Persona 4: Second Chances
by SlowpokeIsAGamer
Summary: It's the same story it's always been, High Schoolers trying to save two worlds from the Fog. But this time, things will be different. Masahiro Akimoto, a transfer student from Gekkoukan High School, finds himself at the center of a murder case in the town of Inaba. Where the murder weapon... is Television.
1. Inaba

Before we begin I think it best to say "Welcome" to my newest project. And then throw a disclaimer in your face.

Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

And with that said, I'll meet you at the end of Chapter 1.

* * *

 **August 28, 2010**

 **Afternoon**

Welcome to the middle of nowhere, Inaba.

Starting today, I'm stuck having to live here because my Father got transferred to the Police here.

Sure, by now I'd become used to this kind of thing. I'd been moving every few years most of my life. My Father does a bunch of work for Law Enforcement, mostly training and support stuff. Inaba was no Tokyo, not even an Iwatodai, but at least it was an upgrade over when we lived in the States.

"I know this place doesn't look that great," my father, Yoshiro Akimoto, mentioned as we drove down the tight streets toward our new home, "But give it a chance. It'll surprise you."

He chuckled a little afterward, and I just rolled my eyes and stared out the window. "Is there anything here besides school and houses?" I asked with a hair of venom. My only reward was a glare, "Masahiro you didn't have to come with me. I was just fine with you staying at Gek-" His voice trailed off as he noticed me still staring out the window, "Are you paying attention!?"

"What's that?" I asked abruptly as I pointed out the window. We were driving past a large construction site, easily taking up an entire block in each direction. The gigantic building was almost finished, towering over everything else around it. On the fence surrounding it was several signs all proclaiming the same thing, "Junes Opening Soon!"

"Well that might be the answer to your problems," my father joked as we continued past it.

A few blocks later we finally pulled up to the unassuming house that we'd be moving into. "This is it?" I asked. "It?" my father asked, "It's our own home, I'd consider that an upgrade."

"Forever the optimist," I thought to myself as I took a look around the new neighborhood. It was quiet, exactly like I expected it to be, just a few boring adults wandering around. As I looked around some of the neighboring streets, I noticed at a pair of girls around my age hanging about. I didn't want to disturb them, but I did attempt to commit their appearance to memory.

The taller of the two was sporting waist-long black hair held back with a red hairband. She was dressed in what looked like a short, opened red sweater over what looked like…. A school uniform? I know we were only like a week away from classes resuming, but come on, surely she had more to wear!

The other girl was shorter, by a few centimeters at least. She kept her hair short, but nicely cut, and a light shade of brown in color. I wondered for a moment if she dyed it. Her most defining choice in clothing was her green jacket, which included a tall collar, yellow striping, and what looked like a red button on the front of it. Beneath it she wore a trio of shirts in a variety of colors; white, black and white striped, and even blue.

I gave the two of them a little wave when they notice me, and they waved back. They looked about as bored as I did, though the impending return to classes may play a role in that. Near them I did spot another house that was for sale, clearly more expensive than the one that I now lived in, and I wondered if one of them might be moving. My investigations were then interrupted, however, when my Father yelled out, "Hey Masahiro, shouldn't you be checking your new room!?"

It figured, he calls me out and now those girls already know I'm the new kid. I scowled in defeat and trudged back to the house. Eventually looking inside, it was….. plain. "Like the rest of Inaba," I sighed internally.

"Ah there you are," my Father said as he was putting dishes away in the kitchen, "So what were you doing outside?"

My head snapped around to look at him, "Oh there you were. Not much, looking around. I saw some girls hanging around, and there's another house for sale."

"Did you introduce yourself? You all might have been classmates," my Father asked, and I only sighed. "I would have," I began, "Had someone not yelled for me so soon."

There was a brief silence, as my Father rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, Masahiro, I wasn't expecting you to have met anyone so soon. But still, you should go unpack your stuff. Unless you want to be sleeping on the floor tonight. I left your stuff up the stairs, I figured since you're the spry kid around here you'd be fine sleeping up there."

He had a point about needing to unpack still, though it didn't take a genius to see through his excuse for giving me the upstairs room. He'll be working for the Inaba Police, so naturally he could be called in at any time. He didn't want to wake me up just because he needed to go arrest some drunk old guy. That's probably the worst crime they get out here.

I wasn't getting out of unpacking now even if I wanted to, so I headed toward the stairs and headed for my new room. It had its own door, which was a plus, and it wasn't cramped by any means. "I think I lucked out," I thought to myself as I started cutting open the boxes of my things.

My desk, my table, and my TV had all been placed already. Probably by whoever hauled my stuff here. The only thing I had to do was unload my boxes and rearrange pretty much everything. Not that there was much rearranging I could do. I had a closet by the door, so that entire wall was out. The TV would go on one wall, I'd probably sleep on the opposite wall, and my Desk would go on the final wall.

So after moving my furniture around, I started to unpack the goods. School stuff goes on the desk where I can hopefully ignore it. My gaming stuff, a PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, and games all go over by the TV. I'll sort them properly at another time. And posters go up on the wall.

I'd lived in a lot of places, and that meant I'd gotten to know a lot of people. Usually that resulted in me getting some kind of knick knack because of it. I'd gotten a Baltimore Ravens pennant back before I moved to Japan. Then I got a poster of Risette from a dorm mate back at Gekkoukan before I moved here.

I was born in Baltimore, hence the pennant. And what I got when I left there…. Was a picture of my Mother.

My parents got divorced because because my Father wanted to take a job in Los Angeles. My Mother didn't want to leave, and it led to what they called "irreconcilable differences." But I try not to think about that anymore. It's a bad memory, and I should focus on the happy ones.

Like feeling my room was at least livably organized! Satisfied with my work, I headed downstairs to check on things there.

* * *

 **August 28, 2010**

 **Evening**

Everything looked settled downstairs, at least as far as furniture went. "How's everything up there," my Father asked as he was putting away various kitchen supplies.

"Not bad. I have everything unpacked at least, though I need to organize a lot of it," I replied, "So how is everything down here?"

Now that I was in the mood to look around I noticed how nice it was inside. Unlike the exterior of the building, and indeed much of the town, everything inside seemed clean and sturdy. The lower floor was cleanly divided in half between the hardwood floored kitchen and tatami living area. We also had sliding door access to our back lawn, that would be awesome for guests.

Another set of sliding doors were opened, just behind where our main TV was sitting, leading into a smaller bedroom which must have been my Father's; figures he'd even get quieter doors for when he has to leave early.

I also made a note of our Phone, which was located right next to me. And with it were various photographs; Me, Me and Dad, even a picture of my Father's old roommate, Shuji Ikutsuki. He'd died two years ago; apparently it was some kind of accident while stargazing one night. My Father'd been keeping a picture of him out ever since, probably to remember.

There were no pictures of Mom down here, however. My Father hadn't put any of those out since the divorce and moving to LA nearly ten years ago.

"By the way, did you unpack your clothes yet? We'll need to get you a uniform yet before School resumes," my Father interrupted me with, "Maybe we should do that tomorrow?"

I nodded quickly, startled that I was still being spoken to, "Uh… my clothes? They're still boxed up… But yeah, tomorrow sounds great."

"For now, maybe we should go out for something to eat tonight?" my Father asked as he sat down what he was working on. I nodded, "That sounds alright."

* * *

Hello and welcome to Endslate, Text Edition. Putting my comments at the end is a thing I picked up back when I had to post my comments as a text reply on reddit.

I'd like to thank you for reading this first chapter, as I'll freely admit the story doesn't really pick up until like Chapter 10. I'm getting used to writing longer narratives again. The last time I wrote long narratives rather than episodic shorts (about TwitchPlaysPokemon events) was back in 2011 for a failed Pokemon fic. This also is my first non-Pokemon fic since 2010, when I'd worked on but never released a Tales of Symphonia fic.

This chapter underwent the most revisions overall as I wrote pre-reveal (a time period stretching back to November 2015) as I worked on establishing plot and backstory for Masahiro. Part of what I want to do here is shake up the story of Persona 4 which I'll admit has become a little… stale and predictable. And that shakeup all starts here. An OC that doesn't happen to be riding in the same train Yu is, with a backstory ripe with…. Coincidences?

Anyway at least for this month I'll be posting two chapters a month (to get to the big early twist before February). I've got 12 chapters first drafted, so for once I can say I have a buffer when starting a project.


	2. King Moron

Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

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* * *

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 **? ?, ?**

 **?**

I must have been dreaming. The thick fog surrounding me as I looked around made that abundantly clear. Once my eyes adjusted to the fog, I began to notice a figure standing a distance away. It was distinctly feminine, looking to be about the same age as me. She was facing away from me, and seemed to be conversing with someone even deeper in the fog.

I took a step closer, trying to see who the other figure was, striking my foot against something on the ground as I did. Before I could check what I'd hit, the figure speaks. "Don't come any closer," the female voice said, "You can't help me with this."

Almost instantly I took a step back, holding my hands out a bit just to show I meant no harm to whoever this was. The fog-shrouded woman began talking again with the distant person. I couldn't make out what the conversation was all about, but from what I could tell it didn't sound good.

Soon the other mysterious figure began to come into view. A male figure, tall and lithe. "You cannot beat me," he said somberly to the female figure, "It's impossible." But the female didn't seem to care, as she lunged at the other figure. Swinging her arms to strike him, like some kind of street brawl.

Realizing that they were now distracted, I looked down at what I'd kicked earlier. It was a gun, some sort of pistol it looked like. I knew it wasn't mine, I'd never owned something like this, so it must have been one of the two figures' gun…

I picked it up quietly, and looked back at the two figures. They were fighting once again, and the female figure now looked to be losing. So without thinking, I pulled back my arm, and tossed the gun as hard as I could toward the fighters.

I couldn't tell who caught the gun, or what they did with it. The fog was growing thicker the longer I watched the strange scene.

The last thing I heard, though, was a single gunshot; and then I woke up.

* * *

 **September 1, 2010**

 **Morning**

With a yawn, I tried to push that dream out of my mind and trudge out the door. I was running behind after sleeping in thanks to that dream. I was just able to get some toast down and my uniform on before I had to leave for my first day at my new school. The uniform was….tight, especially around the neck. I swear, the first person I saw who didn't wear this thing traditionally was going to be the last person I saw while wearing it like this.

And of course, as if taunting my intentions, I saw a pair of girls wearing modified uniforms on my way to school. One wearing a red sweater over it, and the other a green coat. "Of course it'd be a girl I see first," I thought, "I can't base my uniform choices off….wait..." They looked familiar! But where had I seen them before?

That was it! They were the girls I saw the day I first moved to Inaba! How could I have forgotten the Raven-haired girl's outfit? She was wearing pretty much the same thing now! Quickening my pace, I tried to catch up to them without drawing attention to myself.

"Hey there," I said once I'd caught up to them. And as if on cue the one with short hair twitched, spun around, and I swear came within centimeters of kicking me right in the groin.

"Who the heck are you!?" she yelled out, not bothering to put her leg down even. Maybe I'd made a mistake talking to her from behind like that; but even then, defensive much? "M-Masahiro Akimoto….. I….. we met…." I stumbled my way through, "This would be easier if you put your leg down…."

The Raven-haired girl laughed at my reaction and waved her hand, "Put your leg down, Chie." Hearing her friend say that, the short-haired girl put her leg back down and just stared, "Alright Yukiko, but what kind of guy sneaks up on girls like that?"

"Oh, yeah…. Sorry about that," I said as I rubbed my head and laughed awkwardly, "I thought you would recognize me from a few days ago. Probably not as easy with this uniform on, though."

The Raven-haired girl, Yukiko I guess, stared at my face for a moment. I could tell she was trying to remember if she saw me before. After a brief moment she nods, "You don't look that familiar. You're new to Inaba, right?" I nodded furiously in response, "Yes, I actually just arrived here on the 28th. This is my first day of Classes, actually."

Chie still looked at me with suspicion. Did she think I was trying to flirt or something? "You need help finding the School?" she finally asked, and I shrugged. "Sure, it's just up the road here I believe, but I suppose someone helping confirm that wouldn't hurt."

The two girls nodded and then started to walk, though the short-haired one, Chie, made sure that she stood between me and Yukiko. "Why'd you move out here, anyway?" Chie asked, "There's nothing out here besides trees and the Inn."

"Well my Father is working for the Police here," I said, "I've moved a lot actually because of his work. Five different cities, two different countries even."

"Wow," Chie drew out, "Man living out here is going to be horrible for you if you've been all over the world." Yukiko quickly added in after Chie finished, "I'm sure he'll have a great time here in Inaba, Chie."

Not wanting to risk them arguing on my account, I tried changing the subject, "So what about you two? I take it you've lived in Inaba all your lives?"

"Oh yes," Yukiko said. "Yukiko's family has lived here for generations!" Chie practically yelled over Yukiko's answer, "They run the Amagi Inn here in town. Her and I have been friends going back to Elementary School."

"Chie," Yukiko said with a rushed tone, "There's no need to tell him the whole history."

Chie looked a bit surprised by Yukiko's response, but before she could say anything more we arrived at the gates of the school, "Hey, we're here!"

My eyes snapped from Chie's face to look at the large building. "Yasogami High," I thought to myself as I looked it over, "It's no Gekkoukan, that's for sure."

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Chie calling out to me, "-ey! Hey! You still with us, Akimoto?"

"Oh! Yeah…. Sorry, I was just thinking about the school," I said, "I guess we should head for our respective classes?"

"Sure. Say, what class are you in, anyway?" Yukiko asked. Actually, I'm surprised none of us had asked that question before now. "Um…. I believe it was Class 2-2," I said, and instantly the two girl's faces took on a look of shock. "You're a second-year?" Chie asked with surprise. "You're not?" I asked equally surprised, suddenly this conversation had taken a strange turn. I could already hear the students walking past us talking, if only in my mind.

"Yukiko and I are only first-years," Chie said as she hung her head, "I wish we'd known that earlier, now I feel like an idiot for almost attacking you."

"It's my fault," I said, trying to smooth this over, "I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that."

Chie quickly straightened up, "Well then, let's try this introduction again. I'm Chie Satonaka, and this is Yukiko Amagi."

I laughed a bit and straightened up as well, "Masahiro Akimoto. I hope to see you both again, Satonaka-chan and Amagi-chan."

We all shared a quick laugh over the sudden formality, before dispersing to our classes.

* * *

 **September 1, 2010**

 **School**

I'm regretting my decision to come to Inaba already…

As soon as I got into school, I checked in with the Faculty Office only to find myself paraded in front of my new class by a short, buck-toothed man with an ugly tie. Mister Morooka, he's apparently my homeroom teacher now.

Now I'd heard Mr. Ekoda was a bad teacher back at Gekkoukan, but Mr. Morooka takes the idea of being a horrible teacher to new levels. He's actually a bad human!

"Awright, shut your traps!" He yells out to the class, and immediately they all go quiet, "I trust you all had a wonderful summer, but now it's back to work. I said it in the Spring, and I'll say it again now, there will be no swooning over Summer Love as long as I'm around. You're going to remain pure as the ocean. Now before I'm done wasting my time this morning, we have a new transfer student to introduce. This sorry thing here's been thrown out of his fancy private school in the city. So don't get any ideas about hitting on him, he's just as big a loser here as the rest of you. Tell them your name, kid, and make it quick."

As much as I was hating him, I didn't want my first experience at School to be getting suspended by my Homeroom teacher. "Masahiro Akimoto," I said quickly before he could start saying anything else.

"Hmph!" Morooka growled, "Sorry name if I ever heard one. Now listen up, Transfer Student!"

Ugh, was he really going to keep calling me that even after I said my name?

"This town is miles away from your big cities of perverts and assholes, in more ways than one. You better not even think of getting involved with the girls here, let alone abusing them."

Abusing them? Did this horrible man have a soft spot after all? No, probably not, if what he said next was any indication.

"But what do I know, I'm just the old man. Things aren't like the old days," he was practically speaking tauntingly at this point, "Even here kids grow up too damn fast. I can't even turn my back without them fiddling around on those damn phones."

He continued to ramble on and on like a Grandpa talking about "kids these days," by now I'd just tuned him out and surveyed the class. I didn't know names, but I was trying to memorize faces in hopes that I can pair them to a name later. Until one girl shot her hand up, she was easy to identify in the crowd thanks to her light brown hair, even lighter than Chie's earlier. Also way longer, and way wavier. "Excuse me, would it be alright if the Transfer Student sat over here?" she asked, snapping Morooka out of his rant. "Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. You hear that? Your seat's over there." Morooka grumbled as I quickly made my way to the open seat next to this girl, and Morooka quickly resumed his rant.

I flashed the girl who'd just saved me having to stand awkwardly at the front of the class a smile, and she leaned slightly over to whisper, "Bad luck getting him for Homeroom, huh?" I nodded, not sure if I wanted to be whispering myself, in case Morooka decided to pay attention to the class. "We call him King Moron, everyone does. I'm Saki Konishi by the way," she continued before leaning back into her desk properly. By this time everyone had started talking again.

"Alright, now be quiet! Shut your traps!" Morooka yelled again, "I'm taking roll, and you damn well better respond in a timely manner."

"So this is Yasogami High," I thought to myself, "This is going to be a long half a year with King Moron. At least I'll have people like this Saki girl, and Chie and Yukiko to help me stay sane…."

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* * *

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I'd like to start off here by giving HUGE thanks to everyone who liked just the first chapter enough to give it favorites, follows, bookmarks, and kudos. You are the people who make me feel like I'm actually good at this whole writing thing.

Now as for this chapter. Again, it's a lot of introductions. Formally introducing Saki, Chie, Yukiko, and even King Moron. Also coincidentally dropping the news that Masahiro isn't even in Yu's grade, but rather is a grade ahead! It probably isn't that big of a surprise considering Masahiro lived in a dorm at Gekkoukan, and there was no way he'd be there only until Summer before moving again. So if he was in High School the year before, he can't be a First Year in 2010.

Oh, also, about that whole dream thing to kick things off. If it didn't make 100% sense to you, that's a good thing. There's a…. rather large subplot with Masahiro that's going to be developing over time. In a way you could say it's basically the plot of his Social Link with Yu. This is just the beginning. As for why a weird dream, dreams are a pretty powerful thing in the world of Persona. If the Velvet Room can function through dreams, what's to say another power can't also operate through dreams?

Anyway, if you're wondering where I'm pulling some of these upcoming dates and characterization from, it actually comes from The Magician manga. Which basically fills in the blanks from when Yosuke moves to Inaba through obtaining his Persona. Speaking of Yosuke, I'll be back on Friday!

PS, still working out how to linebreak intro/outro from the chapter itself. Should I only use the Horizontal Line for separating intro/outro perhaps?


	3. Junes

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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 **October 4, 2010**

 **Morning**

I've lived a month now in Inaba, and by now life was starting to feel almost routine. I'd wake up, go to school, maybe meet Chie and Yukiko along the way, listen to the always-ridiculous lessons, and head for the shopping district to hang out. One thing I was quick to learn along the way is that Chie is a monster when it comes to meat. I found out because, as it turns out, she will find any excuse to make me pay for her food. Then there were the days that I'd hang out with Saki after school, when she wasn't busy trying to earn money working at her Parents' store, which was most of the time.

But today, the happy little routine I had fallen into was about to be shaken up. It all started with a crashing noise outside while I was eating breakfast. My Father had gone into work early, so I rushed to the door to make sure it wasn't anything serious outside. What I saw was a bike stuck through the fence across our driveway, and a boy I'd never seen before trying desperately to liberate his bike.

"Hey, you okay?" I call out and I swear the boy would have leapt out of his uniform if he could. He wore a Yasogami uniform, entirely unbuttoned might I add, so he must have been about my age. "Oh, um… I'm fine…. And…." the boy started I could immediately tell where he was about to go with this. Before I could stop him, though, he started to talk at a break-neck pace, "I'm sorry about the whole bike thing it was an accident I promise I'll get it out before School."

"It's alright," I said after letting him ramble on for a bit longer about how sorry he was, "My Father's already gone to work today and won't be back until later. So let's see about getting that thing out, okay?" I then slipped into my shoes and headed for the fence, it was the first time he'd really gotten a look at me I guess, since he was visibly assessing my half-on uniform. Specifically, I was missing the coat with it's gigantic collar. "Yasogami High?" he asked as I tried looking for a spot to grab on the bike. "Class 2-2, yeah," I replied with a nod as I finally grabbed hold, "I just moved to Inaba last month, though."

"Last month? I just moved here yesterday," he said as he grabbed onto the bike as well, "Now pull!" And we both tugged on the bike, it nudged a bit. And then we tugged again, and it slid more accompanied by the sound of metal rubbing on metal. Finally we tugged a third time and the bike came flying out of the fence! Sending us both onto our sides, and the bike safely…. Onto the road.

The boy rushed to grab the bike before it could be run over. Thankfully, this is sleepy little Inaba. Had he gotten his bike stuck in the City, that Bike would be toast. After collecting his Bike, the boy returned to me, "Thanks for that, man. I might actually be able to get to school on time."

"It's your first day, right?" I asked, and he nodded. Makes sense if he just moved here yesterday, so I continued, "The last thing you want is to be late on your first day. I can show you the way if you wanna wait for me to grab my coat."

The boy nodded as I ran inside, and soon returned with my coat on. At least for today, I was going to leave it open like Yosuke's. I'd always complained about it being tight anyway. After I returned we set off walking in the direction of the school. "I'm Masahiro Akimoto, by the way," I commented while we were walking.

"Yosuke Hanamura, Class 1-2. So was that was your…."

"Home? Yeah, like I said I moved here with my Father."

Yosuke smiled when I said yeah, "Great to know at least one person my age lives around here. That's actually my house over there." He then pointed right to the nice-looking house I'd noticed the day I moved to Inaba, and sure enough, there no longer was any indications it was for sale.

"That's awesome! I can totally introduce you to some other first-years. I sometimes walk to school with the two of them," I mentioned as we walked, "I think they're actually in your class."

Yosuke seemed quite excited by this prospect, "That sounds great! Maybe they can get me in with some of the Inaba girls." I think I stopped walking at that statement and just stared for a moment, "Um…. They are girls. Two of them..."

"Even better!" Yosuke exclaimed, and I started to question if this sudden excitement over a pair of girls was just an act. "There's one for each of us," Yosuke continued as he quieted down.

Nope, pretty sure that wasn't an act. If it indeed wasn't, then I knew Yosuke would never survive if he had Mr. Morooka next year. "Hey," I said as I began to walk again, "Just a word of advice, don't say stuff like that at school. It's a good way to get on some teachers' bad side."

"I know, I know. Life's probably way different out here than it was in the City. All the guys talked about this kind of stuff there," Yosuke explained as his voice sounded more… sad? "It's alright," I said, partially trying to make Yosuke feel better, "The kids around here are fine, it's just the teachers are…strange."

We continued to talk about Yosuke's life in the City, and what life was like in Inaba, until arriving at the front gates of the school. "So you just head inside, take a right, and you'll find the faculty office. Just ask someone in there about your room," I explained to Yosuke, "Then you just pray your teacher isn't one of the weirder ones." After sharing a laugh over crazy teachers, we headed into the school and I headed up to the second floor.

* * *

 **October 4, 2010**

 **School**

"Did you hear," one loud girl in my class said to a friend, "That new Junes store is open."

Junes? That was the giant construction project we drove past when first moving to Inaba. And as if knowing I was listening in on that conversation, Saki leaned over me, "I hear Junes is hiring high schoolers to work part time, they probably pay more than anyone in the Shopping District."

"Saki, are you saying you want to get a job there?" I asked her, "I didn't even know that Junes was open yet."

"Apparently it was finished a few weeks ago. It just couldn't open until the manager got here, I guess," Saki explained, "Most of the owners of the Shopping District are really angry about this."

"Junes needed its manager to get here?" I thought to myself, "Man, Inaba is really booming with new residents between this manager, Yosuke, and myself."

"Well I guess at least I can head over there after school," I relented. And Saki smiled, "Great, then you can go with me!" That explained why she was talking to me about Junes, she wanted to goad me into going there with her. Then again, a job wouldn't be too bad with how little there is to do in Inaba.

"Alright, shut your traps! It's time for class!" King Moron yelled from the head of the class, apparently he'd come in while we were talking. I quickly nodded to Saki as we all sat quietly for the lesson.

* * *

 **October 4, 2010**

 **After School**

"So this is Junes," I mentioned to Saki after we entered the building. A looping, upbeat track was playing over the speakers, and the elevators on either sides of the entrance were mostly vacant. "I expected more people here," Saki said as she looked about, you could practically hear an echo with how tall the ceiling here was.

"There'll probably be more once they're open longer," I mention as I poke the elevator buttons, watching as an empty elevator opens up. "On the plus side, this will probably be the only time these are empty," I joked as we got into the elevator. Looking over the various buttons for floors, I eventually gave up and just hit the roof button, "We'll just work our way down I guess."

After a short ride, and listening to an advertisement about how every day is customer appreciation day, the doors to the elevator opened to a…. food court?

"Huh…. I should have expected this," I said under my breath as we exited the elevator to look about, "Wow… this place is huge." And huge it was. Yep, an open-air food court was on the roof of Junes. This is now my favorite place in all of Inaba. "They don't serve any local food, typical chain store," Saki complained as she looked at a menu. "Well I'm sure they'll get some eventually," I said, trying to smooth it over with her, "I mean they only opened what, yesterday?"

After that, we decided to explore Junes more before returning to the Food Court.

"This place isn't that bad," I said as I was digging into some food I ordered. We'd both made sure to grab some applications for Junes before sitting down. "It's alright," Saki said, "It's too big here, and they don't carry anything local, but they do pay more than working in the Shopping District."

I paused a bit and thought about that, come to think of it this wasn't the first time Saki had mentioned the Shopping District today. "Hey Saki," I mentioned, "Your family owns the local Liquor Store, right?" She looked up at me, "Yeah, Konishi Liquors. Why do you ask?"

"Well you kept bringing up the Shopping District, comparing Junes to it and saying Junes pays more."

"Well yeah, but I don't get much money working there. My Parents think it's just my duty as their child to help at their store."

"Oh," I said with a downward glance, thinking over what to say next. Before I could think of it, Saki started talking again, "Besides, it's not like they need my help. They have my younger brother they can boss around."

"You have a brother?"

"Yeah, his name is Naoki. He'll be starting at Yasogami next year. He's a big pushover, though. Scares super easy, and he can be a crybaby," Saki rattled off. This must be what siblings are like. "Of course, he's a good kid anyway," Saki finished with.

"I didn't know you had a brother, though he sounds fine. But hey, don't throw all your work at home onto him just because Junes pays more," I mentioned. Judging by Saki's look she wasn't too enthusiastic that I'd just tried giving her advice. "Sorry, did I overdo it?" I asked with an awkwardly apologetic smile.

"It's fine," Saki said, returning to a smile after a moment, "Just I didn't expect you to actually care about my brother of all people."

"Hey, he exists too, right?" I asked jokingly as I looked down to notice I'd long ago finished eating. "So..." I said with a pause, "I think it's time to be done with Junes for today." I then laughed a bit, and after a moment Saki giggled as well. "Sure," she said, "I'll walk with you to your place, alright?"

I nodded and got up to leave. Saki was a strange person in her own way, it seemed. Then again, Inaba seemed to attract people who are a little strange.

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* * *

.

 _You can probably tell pretty easily how difficult this chapter was to write for me. At the time Saki's characterization was still a mystery to me because I wasn't sure what I was going to do with her. That gets better within a few chapters._

 _I kept trying to expand on this chapter, which originally was actually a bit shorter than Chapter 1 was. I managed to eke out about a page of extra content, but to do any heavier revising would have required whole segments to be rewritten which I didn't have the time to spend on an introductory chapter._

 _It might seem crazy right now but the next chapter is stupid long. And goes a long way toward better establishing the myriad of characters met in the last two chapters, as well as starting to move forward some plot._

 _I'll just reiterate I feel like this chapter is the lowest point and from here things start to get better._


	4. The Culture Festival, 2010

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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* * *

 **.**

 **October 31, 2010**

 **Morning**

It was the final weekend of October, and around Inaba it can only mean one thing. The… school culture festival…

All the classes do some sort of event, and there's a few pageants as well. Everyone seemed to get really into the whole event, though for the life of us Yosuke and I couldn't understand why. Back in the city, the Culture Festivals never had this much excitement. Then again, last year's festival at Gekkoukan got rained out, so I guess I'm entering this blind.

A lot of the classes seemed to follow two lines of thought; Food, or Halloween. My class? We weren't lsmart enough to pick something easy. Art of Inaba, did that even exist besides what was made at school?

Despite my reservations about the idea, I did my best to help out. Though apparently since I was new my classmates cut me a little slack. I helped set up, and I'd help take down, but I didn't have to stand around making sure nobody stole artwork from our classroom.

Doesn't mean I still didn't show up at School. I missed my first year festival entirely, I wasn't missing my second year's.

As I was wandering through the halls of the school, I saw an interesting booth that caught my eye. "The long-nosed fortune teller," the sign above the weird blue and gold-trimmed booth said. It was weird, but the impressive booth was enough for me to poke my head inside.

What greeted me… wasn't much of a long nose. In truth, there was a young woman on the other side of a table. She was wearing what looked like a dress made of a blue color that perfectly matched her booth. Her pale golden hair was pulled back, waving down to her shoulders. But the most startling feature, her golden eyes.

"Ah, a customer," the woman said, her voice sounding professional and quiet, "Come, sit down and I'll tell your fortune." I hesitated briefly, wondering if this Woman was serious, before I sat down in the folding chair she probably took from a classroom. The atmosphere in the booth, with the curtain that was acting as a door now shut, was stifling to say the least. It was almost as if external force had decided to also occupy this little slice of the school. It was a strange feeling to say the least.

Situated on the table in front of her was a deck of cards. "Do you believe in fortune telling," the woman asked in her business-like tone. "I can't say I've ever thought of it, so no?" I answered awkwardly, still adjusting to the strange atmosphere of the booth.

"These are the 22 Arcana of the Tarot, they are the means by which all is revealed about your future," the woman explained as she swung her hand across the table, the deck of cards miraculously splitting into seven piles. A trick of magnets in the table and her sleeves, no doubt, or maybe something with wires to split the deck. Her speech, however, sounded strangely familiar to me. Perhaps I'd heard it from the nurse at Gekkoukan once, he was always talking about magic.

Perhaps she sensed my disbelief in what she had done, because she immediately began to speak again, "Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different. Like Humans; each cut from the same cloth, becoming different people through their bonds with others."

She then looked right into my eyes, I swear even through them, as she reached down and flipped a card over without blinking or looking down at it. After her hand was removed, she looked down at the heart-adorned card, "The Lovers in the upright position, the card of split paths, understanding, and relationships. It seems your near future is built upon a diverging path of some sort, and the new bonds you are forming because of it."

Her gaze returned to my eyes, as she reached down and flipped another card. This time the card was adorned with a great tower cracked in half, "The Tower in the upright position. An omen of change, not always good. It seems that at the end of this path you have chosen, or after forging a new bond, you will encounter a change; whether for better or worse remains to be seen. Your future beyond this event is foggy. It would appear that your ultimate fate is impossible to discern. Perhaps your destiny will be shaped by the change you will face, and the way you react to it. An intriguing destiny it must be to be caught in such a flux."

I looked down at the two cards, how starkly different they appeared. I mean, I didn't necessarily believe that these cards were true. Meeting new friends and then having a tragedy happen? That's certainly vague enough to cover anything from a car crash to failing my exams. Still, maybe it was the weird atmosphere, but I couldn't help but feel as if the Tower card was an omen…

"Perhaps when next we meet your destiny will be clear," the woman said, "But for now, it is what it is." I stood up, and reached in my pocket for some Yen to give her, but she put a hand up to stop me. "There is no need," she said, "Seeing such an interesting destiny, one yet unwritten, was worth more than any payment you can find there."

I was at a loss for words, did she just turn down money? "W-well," I began, "Thank you, then… Miss."

"Margaret," the woman said after I took a step, "My name is Margaret, and I hope to keep an eye on your journey."

* * *

 **October 31, 2010**

 **Lunch**

After the strange fortune telling, I decided to get something to eat before heading to check on my class' event. And considering I knew of at least one class that was serving food, I made a beeline back to the first floor. And who would I see at Class 1-2's door but Yosuke.

"Hey! Masahiro-senpai!" Yosuke called out as I approached, "What are you doing down here?"

"You said that your class was serving Inaba-grown food, right? Well that's why," I said straight, ignoring the fact that I could clearly read that his shirt read Inaba Cafe. "Oh, yeah. The Inaba Cafe serves dishes made from fresh, locally-grown vegetables," Yosuke rattled off. I could tell it was rehearsed, but at least he was trying.

So I looked behind him at the packed room, "Busy place, huh?" Yosuke turned around as well, "Yeah, I think this has been a great success."

"Well if you have any open seats I'd like to take one."

Yosuke nodded and showed me to an open table, which I'm pretty sure was just four desks with a tablecloth over it. I waited patiently for someone to order with, looking around at the crowded tables. Imagine my surprise when a familiar girl was at my table a few minutes later looking to get my order.

"Chie-Chan?" I asked in total surprise, and it seemed she hadn't noticed who I was either. "Masahiro-Senpai?"

"So you are in Yosuke's class!" I declared after taking a moment to let her work out that I'm me. "Yosuke-kun? The transfer student? I guess two transfer students would know each other," Chie commented as she tilted her head back in thought, "Yeah, he's in my class." I simply nodded at her, "Seems everyone I know ends up in this class. Must be some school rule."

We both shared a short laugh over this.

"I'm sorry, I'm probably holding you up," I said after a pause. "It's fine," Chie responded with, "Yukiko and a few others are supposed to be helping out as well."

"Well, I won't hold you up much longer. I need to help my class out anyway. I'll just take a…. hmm… Mixed Topping Pizza?"

Chie smiled a bit at the order. "I thought you said you wouldn't be holding me up," she then joked before heading into the 'Staff Room' that had been set up in a corner of their classroom.

I just grinned, she knew that we'd have talked for the rest of the day had I not ordered.

After a few minutes of waiting, Chie returned with the food I'd ordered.

"Oh, thanks," I said with a smile, before thinking for a moment, "Hey, Chie?" Chie had almost already started leaving when I said that, "Huh? What's up?"

"I was wondering, do you and Yukiko have any free time today? Maybe we could hang out, see the rest of the Culture Festival?"

Chie stopped in her tracks, "Um… I think we have a shift change coming up in a bit. But don't you need to go help your class?"

"Well I want to go check on them, but honestly I'm not artistically-inclined enough to really help beyond setup and tear-down."

Chie looked toward the staff room, and I couldn't tell if she was wondering where Yukiko was, or not wanting to show me her reaction. It must have been good, though, because she quickly responded with "Sure then, if you're willing to wait around."

And then she departed toward the staff room, and I saw Yosuke shortly thereafter head that way as well.

* * *

 **October 31, 2010**

 **Afternoon**

After I'd finished eating, I initially sat around the room waiting for Chie and Yukiko's shift change. Though eventually she sheer amount of people forced me out into the hallway. After maybe another fifteen minutes of waiting, Yukiko and Chie came out of the room. They were still in their fancy Inaba Cafe shirts, but the fact they were out here probably meant they were on break.

"Hey Masahiro-senpai, surprised you waited," Chie said with a smile. Yukiko just waved at me, "Hello Masahiro-senpai, Chie told me you were going to join us."

"Yeah, I figure I can check out things with my class while seeing the rest of the Festival with you two. I mean I haven't had a chance to hang out with you guys with all that applying at Junes stuff."

Almost as soon as I mentioned Junes, I saw Yosuke leave Class 1-2 and head down the hallway hands in pocket and eyes practically shut.

"Did he just not notice any of us," Chie asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Maybe he had somewhere he wanted to go?" Yukiko asked. Considering he turned to head up to the second floor, or higher, it did seem like he had someplace in mind. "He can do what he wants," I said, "He probably wants to see just what there is going on at this school."

Come to think of it, that was my hope as well, and yet here we were just standing around discussing Yosuke. "Do you two have anywhere you wanted to stop?" I asked after remembering that fact. "Chie did say she wanted to get some Steak Skewers from next door," Yukiko said rather bluntly, and Chie reacted immediately with a blush and a hasty attempt to cover it up, "Yukiko, I can get those later. Let's hang out with Masahiro-senpai first. Heh..."

"Well, I believe there's a haunted house going on somewhere around here. That sounds like a good place to start," I said with entirely noble intentions. After all, it is Halloween. I should have expected how many classes used that as their inspiration.

Chie didn't seem as excited though, "Um… I don't know, that doesn't sound like the most fun thing around."

"Nonsense, Chie, it sounds wonderful," Yukiko said as she walked over by me. Chie took a moment before she trudged on over as well. I took that to mean she was in agreement, and proceeded to guess where the haunted house was. It wasn't that hard, I knew it wasn't on the first or second floors already.

It was…. About what you would expect from a High School haunted house in the middle of Nowhere, Japan that was probably put together by five people. A lot of hastily-assembled costumes, and copious amounts of fake blood. The theme was your usual ghost story about a witching hour where people are turned into zombies, it all seemed incredibly silly to me.

I thought it was alright, and I was even laughing about it with Yukiko of all people. Truth be told, I expected her to be the one who was shaking even ten minutes after we'd left the haunted house. Instead, it was Chie who was clearly still shooken up by it.

"Chie," I asked after another probably minute of watching her, "You're not afraid of ghost stories, are you?" Chie's cheeks visibly tinted a little, "What? No, of course not. Heh heh."

I was pretty sure she was lying, but pressing her on the matter probably wouldn't net me anything other than lost time. So I looked over at Yukiko, she seemed to have calmed down from laughing earlier. I almost asked her about the laughing, but just decided to let that sit as well, "So where should we go next? My class?"

"That sounds alright, and then after that Chie can get her Steak Skewers," Yukiko planned out, and Chie reacted the same way she had before. Trying to smooth it over, "Yukiko, come on… I didn't say I wanted those that bad."

"Chie, if you want a Steak Skewer you can just say so," I mentioned as we started down to the second floor.

I'd never thought I'd see more paintings of Mt. Yasogami or the Samegawa River than I saw in my own classroom. Still, I couldn't argue the scenery around Inaba wasn't worth painting.

As Chie and Yukiko were looking over the artwork, I saw a few classmates of mine talking.

"Have you seen Saki anywhere?"

"No, not since she went on break earlier."

"Man, if she doesn't turn up soon, King Moron's gonna have a fit."

"He might already when he finds out."

I was silent and listened in, thinking to myself that Saki better not get in trouble. I was snapped out of my listening, however, when Chie was calling to me, "Masahiro, hey! Earth to Masahiro!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Chie. What's up?" I asked as I rubbed the back of my head out of instinct. "Yukiko and I need to get back to the Cafe soon," was her response, "And I…. need to stop by the Steak Skewer classroom before then. So if it's okay with you, we're going to head off on our own now."

Had I really lost track of that much time? Then again, they were only on a break right now. "Sure, I think I'm needed here anyway."

And so, once Chie and Yukiko had left, I approached the two students who'd been talking before, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's Saki, we can't find her anywhere. We sent Kasumi to look for her but she hasn't fou-" the Student started, before the sound of the door opening caught his attention. Sure enough, it was Kasumi standing there, and with her was Saki.

"Sorry I'm late," Saki said with a somber hint, "I met this first-year and I must have lost track of the time."

At the time I didn't realize it, but the events that had just unfolded with Saki would leave a lasting mark on Inaba. She'd just met Yosuke Hanamura.

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* * *

.

 _It was actually nice having a chapter that I'd felt good about and didn't need massive revisions on. I did have to do some revising, since halfway into this chapter I decided, "Hey, why not have more of a focus on Chie and Yukiko? They haven't really had any screentime since Yosuke came into the picture."_

 _My original intent was to put the focus on Margaret's reading, and then flush out a bunch of useless classmates that likely would be used as a social link if anything down the road. Instead, I opted to continue building up the character and relationships of the Investigation Team members and Saki._

 _And on the Margaret note, there is actually a reason I opted for the festival reading with her over a visit to the Velvet Room with Igor. Quite simply put, there's only one Wild Card in this story, and that's Yu. Masahiro has no Wild Card, signs no Contract, and cannot see the Velvet Room. He can only interact with it's denizens outside the Velvet Room, even if he has an "intriguing destiny."_

 _I'm gonna play around a bit with the next chapter, because there's a sizable inconsistency in it. Still intending to get it out this week. We're two chapters away from April, now._


	5. A Working Life

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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* * *

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 **November 10, 2010**

 **Morning**

Today was going to be a great day. Not that I've had many bad days lately, but today was extra special. Today, I work at Junes for the first time! Really work, that is, no more orientation nonsense.

Well, today was also a day I was able to share one of those rare family moments with my Father over Breakfast. But Junes!

"So," my Father said as I came down for my breakfast, "I hear you're working at Junes now."

"Yeah," I replied with a giant smile, maybe I did wait a bit too long to tell him, "See, there's not much around here. So I figured why not get a little extra money, and besides, one of my classmates will be working there too."

My reward for that last part was one of those stares; the kind that a parent gives you when they're not believing you, but also not disapproving of your choice, "Just be careful, a lot of the older residents here aren't happy with Junes moving into town."

"What are you implying, that somebody's gonna beat me up because I work at Junes after school?" I asked confrontationally. All things considered, maybe Inaba was the kind of middle-of-nowhere town that would try and force some big city store out. Nah!

My father sighed and handed me some toast, "No, I hope not at least."

The fact that he left the option open was a bit troubling, so I decided to put it out of my mind, "So what's going on around the station? You hardly talk about that place, it can't be that boring."

"Central wants to bring in a bunch of new Officers. A bunch of wash outs from the City apparently. We don't even need them, the worst crime that happens here is shoplifting down at Junes," I could tell my Father wasn't happy about this, so I just stayed quiet to let him cool down a bit.

My father noticed the silence and awkwardly trying to change the subject, "There might be another kid transferring in from the city."

"You mean Hanamura? I've actually met him already," I replied, only to be met with my Father shaking his head, "Not the Hanamuras. One of the Detectives at the station is taking in his nephew for a while next year."

"Taking in his nephew?" I asked, "What happened to his…. Brother? Sister?"

"Nothing, his Sister is just working abroad for a year."

Hearing that made me feel a lot better, "There's been a lot of transfer students, haven't there?"

"Well, maybe Inaba won't be middle of nowhere for much longer!" my Father replied with. "Inaba isn't that middle of nowhere anymore," I replied with a sigh. The whole idea seemed absurd to me now, even if I thought that when I first moved here.

My reward was another staring, "I hope it doesn't become as crowded as the City, the best thing about Inaba is how safe it is. Now don't you have School to get to?"

I felt like mentioning how my Father complained earlier that Inaba was too safe to need new Officers, but he was right! I was running late! I'd probably already missed my chance to walk with Chie and Yukiko, and I might had even missed Yosuke!

I jumped to my feet, remains of my toast in hand, and ran for the door.

"You don't be late for your work, either!" I shot back just to get the last word in.

* * *

 **November 10, 2010**

 **After School**

Junes just gets busier by the day, I swear.

My Father might have said the older residents didn't like this place, but I think everyone under the age of forty was shopping here now.

Saki and I both had our first real day of work today. No more orientations, no more tours, no more paperwork. Actual work, for actual money.

I was taking my break with Saki when I saw a familiar orange-shirted boy in a Junes apron sitting nearby. It was Yosuke!

I waved his way, yet he seemed to not notice. But Saki saw me wave, and whispered to me, "You know him?"

"Yeah, he crashed his bike into my fence like a month ago. Why? Do you know him?" I asked as I continued trying to get Yosuke's attention.

Saki leaned in toward me, "Remember when I was late during the Culture Festival? He was on the School's roof."

"Well why don't I call him over? We all work here, after all."

"He's probably about to go back to work, there's no need to distract him."

"I mean af-" I started, before hearing a familiar voice from behind me. "Hey, Masahiro-senpai." the Voice, Yosuke's Voice, was saying. I might have left the chair for a moment in sheer surprise. "Oh, Y-Yosuke….hey," I stuttered through as I tried to slow my heart rate back down, "I didn't expect you there."

"I was just getting done with break..." Yosuke said as he trailed off. I followed his eyes directly to Saki, and realized he must have just realized she was there.

"Oh… you're the girl from the roof," Yosuke said almost in a daze. I kept watching his eyes as they drifted downward, but…not for the reason Yosuke's eyes usually drift, "That apron..."

Saki smiled at Yosuke's statements, "I started working here part-time. Masahiro did, too."

I didn't want to interrupt Yosuke, but I did nod at Saki's statement. "Wait, S-seriously?" Yosuke asked with a visible blush. I knew he wasn't blushing about me working at Junes, honestly he might not have remembered I was there at this point.

"I look forward to working with you, Hanamura-kun," Saki responded with, and Yosuke was down and out! More specifically, he was blushing so hard his whole face might have been red. "U-um, I need to…. uh—get back to taking inventory," Yosuke bumbled and muttered his way through as he took a few steps back, turned around, and fast walked as far from Saki as he could.

As soon as Yosuke was out of earshot, Saki broke down laughing. Which surprised me, I thought maybe she was into Yosuke especially considering they'd spent time on the roof during the Culture Festival. "So, do you like him?" I asked after Saki had a chance to calm down. She didn't seem that unhappy with the question, though the answer explained why, "No, no, of course not."

"He was blushing pretty hard, I think he likes you," I said with a laugh of my own, though maybe the laughter was a tad forced. Yeah, Yosuke was probably way out of his league with Saki, but at least she should let him down gently.

"Hana-chan just has that First-year crush on his Senpai, he'll get over it. Besides, there's this cute Third-year I'm more interested in."

She's a bit hypocritical liking a Guy a year older than her, but then again she is probably right. I remembered having a crush on a Second-year Girl back at Gekkoukan but….

But she didn't return my feelings, and even if she had, moving to Inaba would have put an end to that relationship.

"Just make sure if Yosuke doesn't get over you that you tell him you're interested in someone else, break his heart now rather than next year," I advised Saki with, then immediately realized I'd just lectured her again. "Sorry, just running my mouth again," I quickly apologized as a few drops of rain began to fall on our table.

If our break wasn't over, it had been cut short now. As we quickly disposed of our garbage and headed back inside where it was dry.

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* * *

.

 _Sorry for the short as heck chapter, really there wasn't much to go on prior to April that I could make a chapter out of._

 _I'd like to thank DarkLord98 for the review, it was great to see what an ordinary reader thought of the story so far and what people think might be the upcoming twists. I didn't even realize there was symbolism with Masahiro's arcana until you mentioned there was!_

 _Somewhat based on that feedback, I've decided to drop the originally-written Chapter 6 and roll it in with the events on April 1st._

 _Also, for entirely personal reasons, I'm cutting myself back to posting one chapter a week from now on. I've gotten approximately two paragraphs written since I started posting this story, because it takes at least two days of work to revise a chapter for publishing. And as it stands right now, I was lucky to have one day to work on new chapters trying to push through the honestly gigantic prologue to the story._

 _So basically where it stands now, next chapter is going to be the start of April, and it'll be sometime next week._


	6. A Whole New Year

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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* * *

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 **April 6, 2011**

 **Morning**

Let me start by saying this, winter sucks.

Inaba is snowy and cold, and you're stuck trudging to School through the snow. When you aren't conscripted to shovel it, anyway.

At least Yosuke and Saki were able to keep me sane while working at Junes, though I didn't normally see them that often while on a shift. While Saki worked in groceries, and Yosuke at the food court, I normally worked with the appliances and electronics. Mostly appliances, because as it turns out people in the sticks don't like buying flat screen TVs. Still, we hung out on breaks whenever possible. Yosuke never did stop crushing on Saki, and Saki never stopped not crushing on Yosuke. So much for my advice.

Finally, though, Spring had come back around; and with it came the start of a new year at school. I was officially a Third-Year! Apparently this was a big enough moment for my Father to get me a gift, if you can call it that. He got me a tie.

Yep, a tie. A nice red one.

I stared at myself in the mirror. I'd put on a collared shirt to go with the new tie, and it looked fine enough. At least for today I can get away with wearing it. I just hoped Saki wouldn't laugh at me for wearing it. In a way, it reminded me of back when I wore Gekkoukan's uniform. At the very least, it was better than wearing my coat buttoned up with that collar.

After getting my uniform on, I combed my hair off to the side, got my glasses on, and headed downstairs for some breakfast. My Father was down there as well, still getting ready for work today. He'd been working a lot fewer early mornings now that more Officers were transferred in, though that didn't make his job any easier. He wound up having to train most of them, since he'd transferred in from the City before any of them.

"So who's this detective that's been giving you trouble?" I asked him as he was tying his tie. He'd been complaining for nearly a month now about some detective who just didn't seem to take work seriously.

"You know by now that I can't tell you that," my Father responded, sounding immediately sour about discussing this.

"Couldn't you at least tell me what's so bad about him? No need to name names."

"He's a slacker, that's all you need to know. Comes in late, is missing on the job, he still doesn't even know half the businesses in the Shopping District alone. He'll never make it as Dojima-san's partner," my Father began to grumble, slowly ramping up into potential rant. He caught himself, however, and took a breath, "Did you hear the News?"

I usually tuned out the news around Inaba, so it surprised me when I was actually asked about the news for once. I noticed that the TV was on, and instead of the pointless fluff pieces about a farmer's crops, it was talking about some sort of scandal. Guess some politician from the city decided to cheat on his wife. It wouldn't have been a big deal, but apparently his wife's some famous singer, and the girlfriend was some big news reporter. Probably going to hear about this story for the next month.

"We're not going to get any peace after this story," my Father said with a sigh. "It's just some piece about a cheating politician, what does it have to do with Inaba?" I asked entirely cluelessly.

"That 'cheating politician' is a native of Inaba. Apparently him and that reporter are both coming back to Inaba for the time being. The Chief is trying to figure out what to do about security, Inaba isn't used to this kind of media circus."

As it turns out, he was entirely right about Inaba not being prepared. Though just how unprepared it was, nobody could have guessed. Even I wasn't thinking about that as I departed for my first day as a Third Year.

* * *

 **April 6, 2011**

 **School**

Of course it was math. I mean why wouldn't it be?

As soon as I got to school my first stop was class 3-2, my new home for this year, and to stake out an open seat. And of course, who was there but one Saki Konishi, complete with an open seat next to her!

"Hey Saki, imagine seeing you here," I awkwardly joked as I sat down next to her. She seemed a bit surprised I was here, "Are you trying to flirt with me now? Just because Senpai graduated it doesn't mean I'm free game."

"Tell that to Yosuke," I deadpanned, "I saw him a few days ago. He was practically unable to talk about anything other than this being his last year to date you."

Saki audibly sighed, "Yeah, sounds like him. He hangs out with all those other girls, why can't he just date one of them?"

I frowned pretty hard at Saki's insistence on not telling Yosuke she doesn't like him, and then decided to change the subject, "So who is this Mrs. Kasai person?"

"Kasai? She's a Third-year Math Teacher."

I paused for a moment, and my jaw might have dropped a bit, "Math?"

"Oh come on, she's not King Moron. Actually, the Third-year teachers are pretty normal compared to that bunch last year," Saki responded. "I'm sure she's perfectly fine," I said as I hung my head, "Math's my worst subject and now my Homeroom teacher is a Math teacher?"

"Now you're just worrying too much, maybe she'll help you get better at Math," Saki joked hopefully.

I was going to respond to her, before I was cut off by the sound of someone putting down papers at the front of the class. There she was, my tormentor for the next year. She actually looked normal, at least by Yasogami's standards. Black hair, shoulder-length, a purple suit with a skirt, and looked to be in her late 30s.

"Okay, everybody sit down!" she called out, "I'm Mrs. Kasai, your Homeroom teacher and the Third-year Math teacher. Now is everyone here?" She then trailed off and counted quietly to herself before continuing, "Every seat filled? Well you won't have any more transfer students in here." She looked directly at me for that last part. It's been half a year now and people still feel the need to point out that I'm a transfer student.

"Now I don't know how many of you are aware, but this is your final year of High School. That means it's time to start thinking about the next chapter of your lives, and that means Entrance Exams. It's our job as your Third-year teachers to ensure you can get into any University in Japan, but it's your job to make sure you pay attention and do your work."

She was lecturing, great. As if I wanted more reminders of my impending graduation than being given a tie by my Father. Still, at least she wasn't ranting like King Moron did.

"Now then, how about a warmup question. Mister Akimoto!" Mrs. Kasai called out so suddenly I almost leapt from my seat. Instead, I just stood up next to it, "How many irrational numbers are there between 1 and 6?"

"Ah crap," I thought to myself, "Okay what were irrational numbers again? It's obviously something bad. Okay, it's obviously something bad considering who wants to be irrational. So then-"

"Trick," I heard someone say. Then I listened again, and it was Saki! "It's a trick question," she was trying to whisper to me.

"Thank you, Miss Konishi," Mrs. Kasai said sternly, "But in the future I'd prefer it if you let other students shake the dust off their brains. Yes, it's a trick question. There are an infinite number of irrational numbers-"

I sat down quickly after Saki got called out for helping me, "Thanks," I whispered to her. "She must have heard you say Math is your worst subject," Saki whispered back, "So pay attention."

* * *

 **April 6, 2011**

 **After School**

Saki barely listened to me after that. Though she seemed to do it because otherwise I'd have never paid attention during class.

Turns out Irrational Numbers are just numbers with infinite decimals. No wonder that was a trick question. I'll have to remember to study that this year.

For a rare change of pace after school, I headed for the Shopping District. Saki had to work at Junes and left school early to get there, so I was free to meet up with Chie and Yukiko at an old favorite in town, Aiya's.

Chie and Yukiko were already there by the time I arrived, and looked incredibly down. "What's the matter?" I asked as I sat down with them. It was Chie who spoke up first, whining, "We've got King Moron!"

"Ouch, on day one no less," I said as I sat down, "I know how you feel. Worst way to start off school is seeing that face." Yukiko didn't seem as depressed by this turn of events as Chie did, and she eventually said why, "Yosuke got it the worst of us. Morooka said he came from a city of Perverts."

Gee. I think King Moron said the same thing about me. Does this guy just hate any place with a higher population density than Inaba?

Hearing about Yosuke's trouble perked Chie up, however, or maybe it was seeing the food that was placed in front of her, "Don't forget the Assholes, Yukiko."

We all laughed at that part, Yukiko especially. "Actually, that sounds like the rant he gave me when I moved here last year," I finally said after we'd all stopped laughing, "I bet he just has these scripted."

"So tell us about your day, Masahiro-senpai," Yukiko finally asked. "Oh, it wasn't as exciting. I learned about Imaginary Numbers, got embarrassed for not knowing what Imaginary Numbers were," I rambled off.

"What even are Imaginary Numbers, don't all numbers exist?" Chie asked, and I do mean she asked. She wasn't joking, she was actually curious. A chance for me to show off what I learned! "Well you see, Chie," I began with, "Imaginary Numbers have infinite decimal places."

"But then they're real numbers, not Imaginary," was Chie's response.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too. But they're not. Go figure, Pi is imaginary."

Well that statement of mine must have got Chie thinking, and not about math considering her response of "I wonder if Junes sells pies."

"Come on, Chie, how often does anyone come here after school anymore? Can't we just spend one day not thinking about Junes?" I asked her. Sure, Junes has everything under the sun, but all the best food in Inaba can be found in the Shopping District. "I guess you're right," Chie said as the conversation trailed off into awkward silence.

It was Yukiko who saved us from the silence, "Inaba's certainly getting busier lately. I hear there's going to be another Transfer Student joining our class next week."

"Oh?" I asked, "King Moron is going to tear this Transfer a new one. But now that you mention it, I heard from my Dad that there's apparently some big scandal going on that ties back to Inaba."

"Oh right, the Politician and the Reporter. They were both from here, weren't they?" Chie asked, and we both looked at Yukiko. If anyone would know the list of famous people who came from Inaba, it would be the future manager of the Amagi Inn.

"Mayumi Yamano..." Yukiko said quietly, "Apparently she's staying at the Inn this weekend."

"That place is going to be swarming with Reporters if that happens," I mentioned as I rubbed my forehead, "It's going to be hell on earth for you."

"If you need to get away this weekend, you can always come hang out at my place," Chie offered, eliciting a smile from Yukiko. "I'd offer you the same, but I have to work all weekend," was my response.

Yukiko's smile grew larger yet, "Thanks you two. But how bad can it possibly get?"

In a word? Very bad.

But we continued to make idle conversation about our plans for the new school year into the evening, even after we finally left Aiya's. By the time we finally went our separate ways, the sun was setting. "I'd better get home," I thought to myself as I began to run, "If my Father gets home before I do then he'll know I wasn't doing my homework."

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* * *

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 _So remember how I said I was cutting back to a chapter a week? I swear I didn't mean a chapter at the very last minute of the week!_

 _What happened was I wound up getting caught up in writing new stuff for the first time in forever and forgot to start editing Chapter 6 until Thursday. And by editing, I mean merging the original Chapter 6 with the original Chapter 7._

 _Most of what you see here was Chapter 7, but the inclusion of Masahiro's Father at the beginning was originally Chapter 6. At the end of the day, doubling up on the "hang out with Chie and Yukiko" thing felt too forced just to say I did something story-wise during the winter._

 _As for that Imaginary Number thing, I basically googled "Math trick question" and found a question about Imaginary Numbers._

 _As for the chapters I was working on, I actually got Chapter 13 (now Chapter 12) halfway done, did a fairly large chunk of rough drafting a chapter for September (bet you can guess what happens in that one), and even working on another story I'm working on behind the scenes._

 _So next week's the big week, Yu Narukami comes to town. I'll be doing something a…. little different next week, so it might be another late-week posting._

 _Hope you all enjoy the full moon tonight and no Shadows get you._

 _PS, I pulled the April 6th date from the in-game calendar for P4G._


	7. Narukami Yu

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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 **April 13, 2011**

 **Morning**

I take back everything and anything I've ever said about Inaba being boring or in the middle of nowhere. The school year no more than starts and there's one of the most bizarre murder cases I've ever heard of, and that's with a Father who works in Law Enforcement.

It was just yesterday, in fact. Saki had left early because she had work at Junes. Lucky for her, because just as the day was ending everyone was told to stay in their classrooms instead of leave! Apparently the victim was that reporter who'd been involved in that affair on the news. And get this, she was apparently hung upside down after being killed!

Naturally the news spread like a wildfire in a tiny place like this. Didn't help when it was all the media could talk about, then again they did lose one of their own reporters. So you can imagine the mood I was in departing for school today.

Of course, the fact I was on edge probably helped me. As not far up the road, I wound up dodging the out of control bicycle of one Yosuke Hanamura. "Look out!" He was yelling as he passed me by. "I can't stop it!" he called out again as he swerved around a strange Silver-haired student and…. Headfirst into a trash can.

"Oh no, Yosuke," I muttered to myself as I ran over to the trash can. Luckily, at least as far as Yosuke was…. probably concerned, the Silverette decided to stay on the scene as well. Though Yosuke probably didn't know, and was practically rolling in the trash can trying to get free. Already I could hear some of the passing students laughing at him.

"Hey," I called to the Silverette, "You wanna grab his legs and I'll grab this thing?" After an awkward moment of what I'd have to guess was realizing the fact someone else actually wanted to get Yosuke out of this trash can, he nodded and grabbed onto Yosuke's legs.

"Okay on three we'll both pull," I ordered after I'd grabbed onto the can, "One, two…. Three!"

And at the same time we both pulled, and just like that Yosuke popped out of the trash can! "Ha ha! Not bad!" I laughed as Yosuke stopped rolling around. Maybe he just didn't hear me, or maybe the new person in front of him was distracting, because he blew me off entirely!

"Oh, thanks man. You're a life saver," he gasped out, entirely over-dramatic. It was his own rolling that caused half the problem. "It was nothing," the Silverette said with a practically monotone voice.

It was then that I decided to clear my throat to get Yosuke's attention, and he spun around almost immediately! "Oh hey, Masahiro-senpai…. You saw all that, too?" he asked, now sounding rather embarrassed by the whole escapade.

"Yeah, I saw it. You really should just stop with the bike," I replied and looked at the yellow bike that had caused Yosuke nothing but trouble since he'd come to Inaba. "Hey, without this thing I'd be short two new acquaintances," Yosuke said proudly.

"One today," I quickly added lest Silverette think I only just met Yosuke today.

"Yeah," Yosuke trailed off as he looked over the Silverette. He was an interesting sort when you thought about it, he stood a bit taller than I did, with sharper features than Yosuke had. His uniform was fully buttoned, so he must be new to Yasogami High, and he had a schoolbag gripped in his hand.

"That's right, you're that new transfer student," Yosuke finally continued, "Yu Narukami was it?"

The Silverette, Yu, nodded and Yosuke continued, "I'm Yosuke Hanamura, you probably remember me from…. Yesterday..."

I hadn't heard the details about what happened because I rushed home after the news about the dead body, but apparently Chie was incredibly pissed about something Yosuke did. Pissed Chie and Yosuke usually ends one way, pain.

I was snapped out of my thought when Yosuke spoke up again, "And this is a friend of mine, Masahiro Akimoto."

I nodded to Yu, "We're already introduced, somewhat."

"He helped me get you out of the trash," Yu responded curtly.

"Really to the point, aren't you," I said with a laugh tacked on the end, "Hey, we'd better get moving. Yosuke, you should walk."

And walk we did! It wasn't that far to the School anyway, but it beat finding Yosuke in a trash can up ahead. And there was safety in numbers….

"So, what class are you in?" Yu asked me after walking for a bit in silence. "Third year, Class 2. I'm guessing if you know what happened to Yosuke yesterday, you're in his class?" was my quick response, honestly I was just happy to break the silence.

Yu nodded silently again, before Yosuke butt in quickly to change the subject, "Hey, did you hear about that announcer they found yesterday?"

"I did," Yu said. "Same here, I don't think anyone could not know about it by now," I added on.

"My Uncle's a detective here," Yu quickly continued to explain, "He was working the crime scene yesterday." If my jaw hadn't hit the ground right then and there, it probably never would. "Your Uncle?" I asked. "Yeah, Ryotaro Dojima," Yu responded, "Chie, Yukiko and I were walking home together when we passed the crime scene."

Well that answered one question at least, where Chie and Yukiko had gone after school. And it seems Yosuke hadn't been with them considering he responded by asking "Is it true what they say? That she was hung from an antenna?"

"I didn't see the body, they'd gotten rid of it by then. But I did see cops checking out an antenna," Yu explained. If that wasn't a body hung from an antenna, nothing was.

"You think it was some sort of warning? There's no way something like that could've been an accident," Yosuke said in a worried tone. "Of course it wasn't an accident, Yosuke!" I said unexpectedly loud, "I mean what kind of announcer is on a rooftop and just so happens to be hung upside down from an antenna and die?"

"He has a point," Yu added, "But we should probably leave that up to the Police to find out."

It was Yosuke who spoke next, without missing a beat yet turning much more somber in tone, "Whoever did that must be really messed up. I mean killing someone is bad enough, but then hanging them from a roof?"

Neither Yu nor I responded for a while, not until we got to the gates of the school. Then Yosuke spoke up again, "Hey! Do you know what this Town is famous for yet, Narukami?" Yu shook his head, but Yosuke was already talking again, "Inaba makes a seriously mean beefsteak. I know, it sounds lame but it's pretty fitting for this place. How about since you two helped me out, I treat you to some after school?"

"That isn't necessary," Yu replied with what I'd have to guess was a surprised tone. "Nonsense, I insist," Yosuke shot back with, and immediately started to run his mouth again, "You're free right? Not like anything really happens around here when you're new."

"Yosuke," I said.

"Don't worry, Masahiro-Senpai and I have gone through the same thing. We'll help you out. So what do you say?" Yosuke continued.

"Yosuke!" I yelled. And was met with only a shout of "What!?"

"We're all going to be late if you keep talking, I'll meet you here after school. If nothing else, you can treat me again," I said before high tailing it into the school. Best as I could tell, Yu was not far behind me. Poor guys have King Moron, he'd fillet them for being late.

* * *

 **April 13, 2011**

 **After School**

Saki didn't look too good in school today. She spent most of the day just staring at the board, her eyes looking unfocused. I'd call it a thousand-yard stare, but then who am I to judge. She could have just been zoning out on our literature lesson.

But I put that all in the past as I waited at the gate outside of Yasogami High, I usually was able to milk steak out of Yosuke every few weeks with the way that bicycle of his breaks down. When I saw him leave the school with Yu and Chie in tow, however, I knew that this steak was not happening.

And I was right! Instead of heading to the Shopping District we made a beeline to Junes. Chie was whining about Yosuke's "cheap place" and how he owed her grilled steak, but last time I checked she didn't help Yosuke out of the trash this morning. At the very least Yu and I deserved some steak, but thanks to Chie we were now stuck at Junes too.

"So, I have to ask," I said as Chie was continuing to break Yosuke's ears with her yelling, "Why did Chie come along? What do you owe her for, Yosuke?"

Chie didn't hear, or didn't want to stop yelling at Yosuke to answer, so Yu did it for her, "He broke some DVD of hers yesterday." To the point as always with Yu, it seemed. Though he did seem rather distracted, always looking at something behind one of the food stands assembled on the Junes rooftop.

So I tried to lean my head to see what was so interesting, and it was… a TV. Just a TV, and airing the news at that. Apparently it was another report on that murder yesterday, but it was really just all the same stuff as before.

"It's probably the same report as this morning. They won't have any new information for a few days," I told Yu, and apparently that was finally what would snap Chie out of her argument with Yosuke. "Wasn't this on the news yesterday, too?" she asked Yu and I as Yosuke started to chow down on his food.

"Yeah, and this morning, and now, and probably this evening," I responded, "You can't miss it if you watch TV at all."

"Freaky how it happened way out here, huh? The murderer could live next door." Yosuke asked as he practically guzzled his drink.

Man, that was the last thing I needed to hear! I had been on edge about the murder all day, and now Yosuke says the killer could be my neighbor!? Chie didn't look too happy with this news either as she visibly shuddered and slammed the table, "Don't go there, it freaks me out."

"I'm going to agree with Chie on this one. Let me at least pretend the murderer doesn't live next door to me?" I asked as I slumped down in my chair and looked at the cheap meal Yosuke bought us.

Yosuke just chuckled at us both, "Come on, I was just messing with you guys."

"Some way of showing it," I muttered. After a moment of silence, Chie spoke up, "We should change the subject."

We all returned to sitting in silence. Now thinking about something else to talk about. When you really had a chance to think about it, there wasn't much to talk about outside of the murder. Eventually Chie spoke again, "Hey, have any of you heard about the Midnight Channel?"

"You aren't seriously talking about that rumor that's going around school, are you?" I asked. I'd heard of it, I think just about everyone's heard about it. A friend of a friend of a friend's cousin who works in the Shopping District heard it from a co-worker. It was one of those kinds of rumors, it's like finding a Mew under the truck.

"What's the Midnight Channel?" Yu asked entirely sincerely. Okay so he gets a pass on not having heard the rumors because he only just moved here. "That's the one where you have to watch it at midnight," Yosuke began, and I was just about to inform him that midnight is in the name when he kept talking, "when it's raining?"

Chie nodded, and I could see the grin starting to return to her face, "They say when you stare into a turned off TV when it's raining at midnight, you'll see your soul mate!"

"Come on, Chie, you don't seriously believe in this do you?" I asked. "It's just a bunch of kiddie crap, I can't believe you fell for it," Yosuke included much to my fear. But thankfully, Chie didn't seem that mad about what I said, or maybe it was just her default reaction to yell at Yosuke.

But she yelled, "What do you mean 'Kiddie Crap'!?" And Yosuke, not learning from Chie's earlier rant about beef, decided to try calming her down. And in his infinite wisdom, decided to mention that this is why she can't ever find a boyfriend.

Yu and I had to separate the two before Chie choked Yosuke to death. "Look, it's supposed to rain tonight so maybe you two can settle it that way? Just give the Midnight Channel one watch, that should prove if it's real or fake," I explained gently after Chie finally stopped trying to attack Yosuke.

"Fine," Chie muttered as the three of us looked at Yosuke. But he was entirely distracted at this point, "Hey, it's Saki!"

I turned to look almost immediately, Chie and Yu followed suit. It was Saki alright, she was walking through the food court as if in a daze yet again. There was something that was clearly wrong, but Yosuke didn't notice it at all. And I didn't expect Yu or Chie to notice, they barely knew Saki if they knew her at all. I didn't even hear Yosuke say he'd be right back, but he was already up and heading over by Saki.

"Is that Yosuke's girlfriend?" Yu asked after Yosuke had started on his way.

I laughed at the question, but Chie simply responded, "He wishes. She's Saki Konishi. Her family runs the liquor store in the Shopping District. I think she's been working here part time."

After I finally stopped laughing, I nodded, "Yeah, she's been working here part time since last fall already. Same as Yosuke and I. And yeah, she's not really Yosuke's girlfriend. Actually, she has someone else she's interested in."

"Man, you really know a lot about Saki," Chie said. I shrugged, "It tends to happen when you've sat next to someone in class for the last half a year. But, there's been something strange with her today."

"Strange? How?" Yu asked, by now we'd all tuned out Yosuke's talk with Saki.

"She seems, dazed? Confused? She was barely paying attention in class today as well. I dunno if something happened to her yesterday or what."

But we all stopped talking about Saki abruptly when she and Yosuke both walked over. "You there," she said looking at Yu, "You're the new transfer student, right?"

Oh yeah, I had told her about Yu helping Yosuke out earlier. But Yu seemed surprised he was even being asked this, and simply responded with "Yeah."

"It must be nice having others from the city to talk to, huh?" Saki asked with a grin as she pointed to Yosuke and I, "Neither one of them have many friends so I hope you all get along good."

"Hey, I have plenty of friends," I said in my best fake whining voice.

"Not that many," Saki replied, "But if they start getting on your nerves you have to tell them right to their faces."

Chie turned to me, and I just glared at her. She responded with a grin and a laugh.

Yu, meanwhile, continued to look more and more surprised by Saki. "I-It's not that I..." he barely managed to stutter through before Saki cut him off. "I'm just kidding," she said dismissively, and she wasn't lying. Well at least I hoped she wasn't lying about me. I had no clue if she really felt that way about Yosuke. Actually, she could be lying about kidding…

Yosuke apparently wasn't convinced, either, "Saki that wasn't really that funny," he said as he awkwardly laughed along.

But Saki was unfazed, though she did look a bit better now that she had a chance to poke fun at Yosuke and I. "Well, my break's almost over. Back to work I go..." she said with a wave of her hand as she turned to head back to work, leaving Yosuke to call after her about some sort of plan they had?

He was planning to ask her out, wasn't he? I rubbed my forehead thinking about how none of this would have happened if Saki had just let him down gently last year. It didn't help when Yosuke started loudly celebrating his apparent victory

"Don't believe everything Saki says," I mentioned to Yu while Yosuke continued to celebrate, "She can get on people's nerves just as easily as Yosuke can. Though she treats him just like her little brother half time time."

"You did say she wasn't interested in Yosuke, right?" Yu asked inquisitively. Both Chie and I nodded. "It's no big secret that this relationship is one-sided," I responded.

After Yosuke finally calmed down, we all agreed to check out the Midnight Channel rumors tonight, and headed home…

* * *

 **April 14, 2011**

 **Midnight**

It was Saki…

I was watching the latest news reports about that murder, and without any real information the reporters resorted to interviewing anyone they could find related to the crime. Saki, as I found out, was the one who found that reporter's body the other day. They'd interviewed her on the news, and though they hid her face and disguised her voice, there was no denying it was Saki.

That explained her strange behavior all day, finding that body hung on a roof like that must have been devastating for Saki. I was amazed she was even able to come to school.

I'd have to talk to her about it if she was still at school tomorrow, though now that word was out about her chances are she'd be missing class for the next few days.

But for now the TV was off. It was just about midnight, and the Midnight Channel rumor only worked if it was midnight. The rain was impossible to miss either, considering it was pouring. So I sat in front of my TV and waited. Seconds ticked by, then minutes, "Guess it was fake after all," I muttered.

And then suddenly, the TV came to life! Not living life, but like it turned on. There was a strange yellow glow, and a lot of static. But what I could make out was some female, long hair, school uniform. She looked familiar, but how many girls matching that description do I see in a day? Dozens, probably.

But there it was, raining night, midnight, and my TV was showing me a picture of some girl. Was she really my soul mate? I had no idea, but I knew I'd have to tell someone about it tomorrow!

The fact that this Midnight Channel was real seemed crazy enough, but what was happening across town was even stranger still…

Yu Narukami had just bashed his head on his bedroom's table.

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 _So last week I said I was gonna do something different, involving two chapters, this week._

 _Funny thing was once I started revising the actual Chapter 7 here, I came to the realization that "Bonus Chapter" I was working on was actually irrelevant to this chapter. It has everything to do with Chapter 8. As such I'm shaking things up again, and next week will be a larger combination of two Bonus Chapters to help set up a major… well let's just say canon is about to get turned on its head._

 _As for this chapter, it's amazing how much easier it is to write when I have a basis either in a manga chapter or a section of the game._

 _With the introduction of Yu, the story is really going to start moving and diverting. There's basically four major plot points that are going to fire off in rapid succession from here on out. Starting with a relatively simple explanation for a game mechanic, then watching the fallout of that mechanic in a world where there is no such thing as a cutscene demanding where someone goes when. And then lastly, of course, we have Masahiro's big moment…._

 _Interested? Good, because I'm really just rambling here._


	8. Bonus Scent - Backside of the TV

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

 _Hello, it's me. I just wanted to catch you guys up here to explain a little bit about the structure of this Chapter. This is what I'd call a "Bonus Chapter." Bonus because it's something Masahiro didn't experience, but I consider important enough to understanding the plot that I have to post it. It's entirely third person, and I hope this does a good job explaining things relating to Chapter 8._

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 **March 21, 2012**

The train had only just started to roll out of the station, yet already the mission had ended in failure.

The girl was never saved, instead she languished within the forest.

The truth was forsaken, humanity content to accept their comforting lies.

Who really released the fog upon their worlds? Surly not the man with the gun.

The mission was a failure. Perhaps fate had been stalled, but the fog would return in time.

Yet in the Velvet Room, none of that mattered. This place existed beyond reality, yet before dream. Beyond space, and time, and even beyond the divide between Shadow and Human.

Margaret knew this as well as anyone. She was Igor's assistant, one of only two assistants that still dwelled in the Velvet Room. He was her master, and her creator, and she learned everything she knew about the Velvet Room from him.

She'd seen Igor's power with her own eyes. Once, his guest, a boy by the name of Yu Narukami, failed to save a kidnapped Human. That time as well, Yu's journey had come to an end. But rather than let that be the end, Yu was offered a choice: retrace his steps, or surrender to the Fog.

Margaret knew what she had to do as she closed the tome that had accompanied her since the first arrival of Narukami, flipping it around in her lap.

As she stared at the tome, she heard the familiar voice of her Master, "Are you certain what you intend to do is right?"

Margaret was actually surprised; not that Igor had known what she intended to do, but because he wasn't stopping her. "Was it right?" She questioned internally, "Why wouldn't it be?" She stayed quiet as she did, before Igor continued speaking.

"He has chosen this path of his own free will, who are we to interfere in his choice?"

"It is our duty to aid him in his search for the Truth. And now that Truth will forever remain hidden if nothing is done."

Igor seemed to ignore Margaret's claims, and continued to speak in his same tone, "You cared for our Guest, did you not? It is like Elizabeth before you."

That statement was enough to give Margaret pause, "L-Like Elizabeth?" Elizabeth had been an assistant in the Velvet Room two years ago. But after the last guest completed their mission, Elizabeth left the Velvet Room to "rescue" them from some horrible fate.

Margaret's eyes were still locked on her tome, yet she knew that Igor was grinning at her surprise, "Indeed, and like her it seems you will have to make a difficult choice. It is true that our duty is to help him seek the truth, yet your actions will not be without consequence. The Boy's future always comes from the same deck, but every time you deal him anew, you change the cards he is dealt. If you wish to keep your bond with him, I suggest you join him now. He may never come to love you again."

There wasn't a hint of anger in Igor's voice, but his offer to leave the Velvet Room told Margaret all she needed to know. The only way she could guarantee she can be with Yu was to leave now, and accept that the Fog would one day return. She, like so many others, would have to accept a comforting lie over the truth. She was being tested, in her own sort of way.

Truth, or Love?

Margaret had a way to justify either choice. After all, Yu had chosen this path of his own free will, there was no need to intervene. Yet could she really let the Fog return?

After what might have felt like an eternity in the bizarre space of the Velvet Room, Margaret spoke again, "I can't abandon him to this fate. I promised to help him, no matter how long it takes."

"Then we must be prepared, for our new Guest will be appearing soon," Igor said with a light chuckle, "What a strange affect these Guests have. Elizabeth made the same promise herself once before."

Meanwhile, in the Real World, on a train bound for Inaba, a Silver-haired boy slept and dreamed of a blue velvet limo...

* * *

 **April 14, 2011….**

Three Humans were wandering inside the Television in Junes. Yes, inside the Television. It was all Yosuke's fault, really. If he hadn't been complaining so loudly then Chie wouldn't have tried to cover his mouth and knocked everyone into the TV.

Now the trio were walking through the TV World, looking for any sort of exit. They eventually came upon an intersection in the path. It was rather simple, you either take the left or right path. The group stopped when Yu did, looking around at what little they could see of the intersection. "Is something the matter?" Yosuke asked after they stopped.

But Yu stayed quiet. He wanted to travel to the left. Something about that path seemed correct. But at the same time, a tiny part of his mind was telling him to head was like part of him, buried deep inside, knew that nothing important was down the left path. But that's crazy talk, there was no way Yu could know which path was correct, right?

No, it had to be just the fog...

And yet, even after taking a few steps down the left path, he found himself still doubting his choice. Finally, the doubt became too much and he turned around, beginning to walk down the right path.

This road was twisting, not straight like the left path was. As they walked, the yellow fog slowly began to become tinged with red, and the air began to smell faintly of charred wood.

"A-are you sure this is the right way, man?" Yosuke stammered as the path continued to curve. Yu wasn't sure at all, but something told him to continue. That the other path would not have the answers he seeks.

And then they saw it, Inaba. Or part of it, anyway. The Shopping District, cloaked in fog, the buildings charred and ruined. "This is…" Chie muttered as they arrived in the District.

"What happened to the Shopping District?" Yosuke asked as the trio began to wander the street, exploring the various shops. Nothing more than empty darkness was left in most of them. "It's like everything is just gone," Yu muttered as he tried to look through the windows of the Bookstore. The only constant thing in this twisted Shopping District was a rhythmic squeaking noise that seemed to be following the Trio around.

"Why would something like this exist inside a TV, anyway?" Yosuke asked after the group gathered again. "Maybe this is some sort of set? Like for a show?" Chie asked worriedly.

More worrisome was the squeaking, it was growing louder even as the group continued to move through the Shopping District.

"Um…. is anyone else…" Chie started. "Hearing that?" Yosuke continued. "Yeah." Yu answered.

They all gulped, "It's been following us, whatever that noise is, since we turned onto that curvy road," Chie said.

"Maybe," Yu whispered, "If we all turn in different directions. Whatever's making that noise won't be able to hide."

"Are you crazy?" Yosuke shot back, "We're inside a Television, you think that could possibly work?"

Yet before they could formulate a plan, the rhythmic squeaking was overpowered by the shrillest scream any of them had heard before. It was feminine, and it was close.

And then, they heard another scream. This one was still shrill, and high pitched, but far less feminine. It also came with some kind of red streak that went dashing past them toward the site of Konishi Liquors.

"What the hell was that!?" Yosuke yelled as the blur streaked past. Through the fog they could see a bulbous form cowering near the store. And Yu was the one who cautiously approached it first. With Yosuke and Chie flanking just behind him.

"What is that," Yosuke asked quietly, but apparently not quietly enough as the strange creature in front of them scowled.

It was small, and round. With blue fur, and a red and white… well a clown suit would be a good description. And a zipper between the suit and its head. Was this some freak wearing a costume?

"I could ask you the same thing!" It yelled back at them, its voice clearly matching the second scream they heard.

"It can talk," Chie said in amazement and fear as she took a step back. "Well of course I can," it shot back again, "I'm a Bear after all! Geez, I've only lived here since bearever."

"What is up with this guy?" Yosuke asked, "He's way beyond creepy."

This made the…. "Bear" suddenly look worried. Like stepping back, covering its ears, and cowering worried, "Don't talk so loudly, you're gonna rile up the Shadows in there."

"Shadows?" Chie asked as they all looked at the Liquor store. It looked exactly like every other story on this street. Charred, in disrepair, and inky black inside. Except… the doorway glowed an ominous red and black.

"The Shadows!" the Bear yelled as it tried blocking the doorway, "They've been in there ever since this person fell in. But she's been too scared of me to leave, so-"

Just then the feminine scream pierced the air again. Whoever was in there, she was either badly hurt, or otherwise in pain to be screaming like that.

"Get out of the way!" Yosuke yelled as he started to push the Bear through the glowing door. Yu nodded, "We can't let whoever's in there stay like this. She's clearly in trouble."

And after a moment of resistance, the Bear just rolled gently through the doorway. And the trio of lost Humans followed it inside.

Inside was…. not Konishi Liquors. At least, not the one that anyone from Inaba would know. Towering ceilings with kegs and coolers lining the walls. "I shouldn't be amazed by this but… this isn't Konishi Liquors…" Chie stammered once they arrived inside.

"Who's there?" a voice asked, shaking with fear and pain. It was… familiar to them.

It took a moment to place, before Yosuke suddenly started running toward the source of the Voice, the staircase in the back. "Saki-senpai!" he yelled out as he began to leap up the stairs.

"Yosuke!" Yu yelled as he and Chie set in after him. The Bear, meanwhile, was left alone. Or, would have been, had it not panicked and stumbled after the Humans that it had met outside.

Upstairs was a single room. It looked much like the one below, but… somehow barren. A single large spotlight shone down on the crumpled, bloody body of Saki Konishi…

She was still breathing, thank goodness she was. There was another person standing over her as well. Saki Konishi was standing over her own body? And it seemed she wasn't finished with this other her yet. "Tell me again how much you care about your little brother. Oh, or maybe how you think Hana-chan's actually a good guy," the standing Saki taunted, her voice sounding distorted and her eyes a golden yellow.

"S-stop it," the bloody Saki sobbed into the ground, "Just go away, leave me alone!"

"What's the matter? Afraid to face the ugly truth? I'm not going away, I'll always be here. I'll be with you until the end."

"Saki-senpai!" Yosuke finally yelled, as both the girls looked at Yosuke. "Oh look," the golden-eyed Saki growled, "The royal pain in the ass has arrived."

"You let her go right now!" Chie yelled as well as she ran up by Yosuke. Sliding down into a fighting stance. "Oh, and he brought his friends too, huh? More pathetic reminders of that pathetic town I was born in," the Golden-eyed Saki said with venom.

"Stop it... " the other Saki weakly said, "Hana-chan…."

"Is a pain in the ass!" the Golden-eyed one yelled out, "That's how you really feel. That's how I feel."

Yosuke was visibly shaking. Though it was anyone's guess if he was shaking with anger, or sadness. "That's…" he said quietly, "That's not how Senpai feels… is it?"

"You're new here," the Golden-eyed Saki said with a lighter tone, "So how about I clue you in on how things work around here. I'm Saki Konishi, the girl who just wishes all of Inaba would burn and disappear! Who thinks you're an annoying pain in the ass."

"No," the…. well it seems like the real Saki said weakly, "Just stop it… you're not me, no matter how many times you say that."

Something in the air changed at that moment, the Golden-eyed Saki looked down at the real Saki with one of those slasher smiles, "Say. That. Again."

"You're not me…" Saki said even weaker this time. Then, the other Saki threw her head back and laughed. Just laughed. As she did, a red glowing smoke began to fill the room, flowing toward the other Saki and enveloping her.

"That's right, I'm not you!" it shouted out as it was entirely enveloped in the smoke.

"Oh no, that's not good," the Bear that had followed the trio inside said from the doorway, "That Shadow is going totally bearzerk."

Everyone turned to look at the Bear. "You mean that thing was a Shadow?" Yosuke asked alarmedly even as the smoke surrounding the other Saki began to grow larger.

What finally emerged from the smoke was no Saki, not at all. Rather, it was a large creature, looking like it was inspired by some sort of leopard. Standing there on four legs, with a human face not unlike Saki's instead of a leopard's muzzle, and gold and white armor.

"I am a Shadow… the true inner self… and I'll make you disappear along with the rest of Inaba!" it declared as it immediately rushed at the trio. Upon reaching the groupe, it swiped at them with such force that Chie and Yosuke were both knocked back into the wall. Yu, however, stood firm against the attack.

As the claw swept in front of him, a voice rang out in Yu's head.

"I am thou…. thou art I….

The time has come… open thine eyes…

And call forth what is within."

And in an instant, the ruined Liquor Store was filled with a glowing blue light. In stark opposition to the red smoke that had just before invaded it. The light was centered upon Yu, who was now standing in the middle of an elaborate circle emblazoned with a mask.

He reached out to a card, gently descending from the light above, until it rested just above his palm, "Per...so…na!" And with that he closed his hand as the card shattered in his grip. The moment it did, the light around Yu grew even brighter until it all but obscured him. When it cleared, Yu was joined by a towering humanoid figure. Wearing a grey helmet, dressed in a black trench coat, and wielding a Katana.

Immediately, both Yu and the figure swung at the leopard Shadow, which lept away just in time. The other two students, and the Bear, could only stare on in awed silence.

Yu just stared down the Shadow, not even flinching at what had just transpired. Reaching his hands up to unbutton his uniform jacket as if taunting the Shadow by doing so. The Shadow responded about how you would have expected, lunging once again not at Yu, but at the strange figure accompanying him. Latching onto the figure's chest using its claws.

Yu stopped unbuttoning his jacket, and instead grabbed onto his chest and growled. "Get off me!" Yu yelled as he shoved some invisible object off his chest. The figure copied his movements, detaching the Shadow and sending it halfway across the room.

Yu then set himself and charged at the Shadow, holding a sword that didn't exist to look just like the Figure that flew alongside him. They both swung diagonally at the Shadow, slashing across its face. The Shadow reared back in pain, then slashed downward at Yu who stepped back and put his invisible sword up defensively.

Strangely, the invisible sword seemed to half some effect, though Yu clearly winced in pain as the Shadow slashed his arm. Glaring at the Shadow, he threw his other hand forward and shouted, "Izanagi!"

As if on cue, the Figure with Yu threw its hand forward, as from seemingly nowhere a single bolt of lightning struck the Shadow. Though the Shadow barely looked fazed.

"Oh no," the Bear said quietly, where only Yosuke and Chie could have heard, "It's strong against Electricity."

"Electricity?" Yosuke muttered, before looking at Yu again and yelling, "Hey Narukami! The Bear says that thing is strong against Electricity!"

Yu turned around, and nodded once. Snapping its head back to the Shadow, he immediately rushed at it, the Figure's sword pointing straight out. And in an instant, with a sound not unlike a rushing wind or flowing sand, the Figure's sword dug straight into the leopard Shadow. Black smoke billowing out of the wound as the Shadow stumbled, and collapsed onto the ground. Then it burst into the same black smoke that had created it…

For a moment, Yu just stood there gasping for breath, as the strange figure that had just fought with him vanished in the same blue light that birthed it.

Chie just stared on in total amazement, while Yosuke simply said, "That was… amazing."

Just then Saki stirred back in the center of the room, and everyone, including the Bear, rushed to see how she was doing. "This isn't good," Yu said as he got there first, "She's been bleeding badly the whole time."

"Her arm looks horrible," Chie muttered when Yu moved her bloody hair out of the way.

"There must be something we can do, right?" Yosuke asked worriedly, a growing pit in his stomach as they saw just how hurt Saki was.

The Bear, which had been watching from behind them, suddenly tried to push its way to the front, "Lemme through, come on!" Both Yosuke and Chie looked down at the Bear and tried to push it back. "Stop that, you can't do anything about this Bear," Yosuke yelled as he shoved on the Bear. "Hey, stop pushing! I'm not a Bear, I'm a Teddie, and I can help!" the Bear, the Teddie, yelled back as he shoved on Yosuke.

"Stop this, both of you," Yu said sternly and seriously, "What can you do to help…. Teddie?"

Teddie produced a strand of beads, "These!"

"Beads?" Chie asked, "You want to put beads on her?" Teddie frowned and looked almost ready to cry, "Y-you…. just put them on her arm…."

Yu sighed, at this point it probably didn't matter if it made sense. He'd just summoned something called a Persona, beat up a leopard Shadow that looked like Saki, and oh yeah, he was inside the Television! At this point, maybe beads could do something. So he took the beads from Teddie, and laid them on Saki's wounded arm.

Almost as soon as the beads touched the blood, they began to lightly glow. Slowly but surely, the string holding them together began to dissipate, and with it the wounds in Saki's arm began to heal…

"Impossible…" Yosuke said as he watched Saki miraculously heal in front of them. "I told you I could help!" Teddie said happily, "These things were just laying around one of the other buildings!"

They were all distracted, however, when they heard the sound of shoes hitting the ground behind them. Standing there was the Other Saki again, but there was something different about her this time. She seemed…. distorted? Like a TV channel when the signal wasn't coming in strong, bits of her were phasing in and out of static. She wore a solemn expression now, just staring down at Saki.

Finally, after the chain of beads had been entirely consumed and the beads themselves had rolled into the corners of the room, Saki began to sit up and look her Other Self in the eyes.

"You-" she began to say, before Yosuke cut her off. "Saki-senpai. Was it all true?" he asked, with a slight trembling to his voice.

Saki swallowed hard, her gaze not once leaving her Other Self, "Yes... Kind of. S-she's right, I do hate Inaba. I do wish it would just disappear from my life. But I don't hate everyone. Yeah you can be annoying, and a pain in the ass, and maybe I don't like you like you think I do, but I don't hate you."

Saki then tried to stand up, only to groan in pain and almost fall over before Yosuke grabbed her. "I've got you... We should get you out of here," he said as he wrapped her arm around him.

"Wh-what?" Saki asked as Yosuke helped her to stand. Everyone else shared the surprise, Yosuke was basically told to his face that his Senpai… at the very least didn't love him. Yet here he was, still helping her.

"I can't just leave you here to die, can I?" Yosuke said sadly, "Even if you think that way about me, you don't deserve to stay here."

While Yosuke was talking, the Other Saki stepped closer to the real Saki, and just stared for a moment. As if asking her some sort of question with only her eyes. After Yosuke had finished speaking, Saki looked at her Shadow. "You were right," the real Saki said, "You're me. You're the part of me that just wants to forget Inaba ever existed, leave it in the past and head for the City."

And after Saki admitted that, the Other Saki just smiled as she was consumed in the same blue light that had surrounded Yu earlier and disappeared.

And then a new figure appeared in the light. Tall, like the figure that Yu had summoned, yet distinctly feminine. With black hair, white skin, and a single green and single yellow eye. Her teeth were fangs, her nails were claws, and she had a leopard's tail. She wore a white layered dress, with pink trimming and a golden top layer.

And in an instant, the light, and figure, vanished. Replaced by a single card, floating down to within Saki's reach. And without saying a word, Saki reached out the arm that wasn't wrapped around Yosuke to grab the Card, "This is…"

"Your Persona," Yu said as the card in Saki's hand vanished. And for the first time since the day she found that dead body, Saki Konishi smiled. "Thank you guys for coming all this way for me," she said, "I might have died if you didn't come to save me.."

Nobody said what was on all their minds. They all had known what would happen, even Teddie, and even Saki. Whoever put her into the TV must have known it would kill her, this is probably how Ms. Yamano died as well.

"We should get out of here," Chie said after a pause, "Before it gets too late and Junes closes."

"But how do we even get out of here?" Yosuke asked, "I mean we were looking for an exit when we found this Shopping District."

"Why don't you guys try going back to where you came in from?" Teddie asked, "Maybe… someone nice can open an exit for you guys."

With no other options, they started walking, Yosuke helping Saki to walk. On that day, a new bond was formed between the four humans and Teddie. The bond was that of the Investigation Team.

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 _OKAY! I think this needs a little (lot of) explanation. I basically just took one of the major kickstarters of the canon and shattered it over my head._

 _So let me start by saying this. Second Chances is a New Game +. Explained in the form of a time loop over the events of April 2011 through March 2012. All of this Yu has done who knows how many times before. And even though he doesn't remember, the "player," more specifically that little part in the back of Yu's mind that was telling him which way to go, remembers._

 _And that's why Saki Konishi lives. Yes I'll say this right now, Saki is not the Second Victim. How? Because Yu's done this so many times that his subconsciousness has almost memorized the TV World. That part of him knows that one road leads to Yamano's apartment, and the other leads to the Twisted Shopping District. The only question every cycle is will he listen to it?_

 _Now, those of you who pay close attention to the canon of Persona 4 will probably question how the story could possibly continue without Saki's death. Well, I have thought about that. Evil will find a way, and the other major change to the canon storyline will help ensure it keeps a way._

 _Anyway next week we'll get back to Masahiro's story, but you could probably imagine the madness that would have ensued if I had just jumped right into Saki being alive without explanation until Masahiro finally (maybe?) joins the Investigation Team._

 _Oh, also. The entire decision to save Saki wasn't made until I was working on Chapter 6. So credit for inspiration where it's due. The entire idea of explaining Saki surviving via Yu being in a NG+ actually was inspired by To Make You Stay. I just went the full 100 yards by having Saki obtain a Persona right then and there. The idea to use Seioubo (Xi Wangmu if you're looking for it on the MegaTen Wiki) as Saki's Persona came from Green-Mamba on DeviantArt, who made artwork of Saki's Shadow and Persona. Though I wound up using the more traditional Seioubo design, and going with a more beastial Shadow instead._


	9. The Games Begin

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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 **April 15, 2011**

 **Morning**

I was worried about Saki. Like super worried. I had expected her to miss school yesterday, and she did. I mean she did find a freaking corpse the other day! But when I went to her house to give her notes on what we learned, I got the news. Saki hadn't been home, and apparently nobody had seen her since she left Junes two days ago!

I wanted to tell Yosuke about this, but I had to work at Junes and he had apparently gone off with Yu and Chie somewhere.

Then today the fog had rolled back in. It was impossible to see even the tops of the telephone poles as I was walking to school through the thick fog, and that worried me all the more.

"What if the Killer watched the news?" I thought to myself as I walked the route to school, "What if he found out that Saki found Ms. Yamano's body?"

I didn't want to go there, but Saki's disappearance was entirely unlike her. And for all I knew Saki could be hanging from some pole in the fog, dead. The whole way I kept straining my eyes, trying to spot anything I could through the fog. Even though I knew it was ultimately pointless, the Killer wouldn't have left Saki in such a populated area. And maybe she wasn't even dead.

Saki wasn't there when I got to school, either. And my heart sank even lower, even as my breathing quickened. "She's just still dealing with the trauma," I reasoned with myself, "I just saw Saki two days ago. Maybe she's just staying with some out of town friend to get away from it all."

I heard the door open again, and I just about puked out my heart. It was Saki!

And then I saw her condition, and I swallowed my heart. To say she looked bad was an understatement. Her left ankle was in a cast, and she was walking with crutches as a result. Additionally, she looked extremely pale, and clearly didn't trust anything near her right arm. Wherever she had been without her parents knowing, something had gone horribly wrong.

Almost immediately half the class was crowding around Saki, asking if she needed help and what had happened to her. "It's nothing," she replied weakly, "I just want to get to my seat, okay?"

After offering to help her enough times, everyone dispersed and let Saki sit down. Finally I was able to talk to her, "Saki, what happened?"

"It's nothing," she dismissed my concerns with, "I fell down some stairs is all."

I just stared at her over my glasses, "Saki, you weren't at home since I saw you at Junes. They even went to the Police about it."

"It's nothing, okay? I just needed to clear my head…." Saki said as she trailed off, as if realizing something, "Yeah. Clear my head... And get those reporters away!"

Saki's excuse made sense, at least. But I couldn't help but feel there was more going on than what she said. Someone doesn't just go missing for more than a day, come back looking as beat up as she did, and have it all turn out to be some funny coincidence. I just hoped that she hadn't had a run in with anyone dangerous…

We had a big assembly at the start of the day. Apparently, given everything that happened with the murder, the Police were advising students to avoid being out after dark and to report any bullying or strange behavior. It was a nice gesture after whatever happened with Saki, but I doubted that, even if Saki's disappearance was related to the murder, the killer was a student.

I could just make out Yosuke in the crowd of students, he didn't seem to be that happy. In fact, he looked like he was worried about something. I wondered if Saki had let him know she's okay yet, and then my mind wandered to a darker place….

What would this assembly have been like if Saki was still missing? Or worse….

I looked over to Saki; hurt as she was, I guess it was better than any alternative at this point. Though if she had any thoughts of still working at Junes for the next few weeks, that was out the window now.

But at least she was safe for now.

* * *

 **April 15, 2011**

 **After School**

The classes themselves were entirely boring today. But after school, I couldn't help but find myself staring out a window. It was raining and everyone was leaving with friends, after all it was the end of the day. But I couldn't help but find myself watching them all closely.

I wonder who could be next. Would anyone be next? Was the killer actually someone down there?

I watched as Saki left with some other students from our class, I watched as Yosuke ran off on his own, I even watched Yu and Chie run off after him.

Eventually the flow of students slowed, and I sighed. I had to work today, even if I wanted to make sure Saki was alright, or see if Yosuke knew about her yet. I'd missed my chance, all I could do for now was to wait and hope everything turned out alright. Heck, maybe the killer was some out-of-towner obsessed with Ms. Yamano, and Saki's disappearance had been entirely coincidental. I know a lot of people were spreading a rumor that that Politician was the killer.

Of course, I was going to have plenty of time to think about the killer at work. Junes had been fairly dead, especially for a Friday. The rain had probably kept people away, though maybe the killing had a role to play in it as well.

I walked the aisles of TVs for what must have been the third time. But unlike the other times I'd wandered them, when they were generally empty, I found something…. unexpected there.

"Chie?" I asked. She was sitting there in front of one of the larger TVs on display, a rope held in her hands…. and was she crying?

"H-h-huh?" she stumbled to say as she looked up. She had clearly been crying at one point, her eyes were absolutely red. "Is something wrong," I asked as I sat down next to her.

She looked conflicted over saying anything. My guess is anyone would be considering having rope in the Electronics department was rather…. suspicious. "Yosuke and Yu…" she began as she paused, "They ditched me. They told me to hold onto this rope for them, and then they ditched me."

That didn't sound like Yosuke. Sure, he isn't above handing someone rope for no known reason, but he wouldn't have ditched Chie. I wondered for a moment if Yu might be the cause of all this, if he was some sort of bad influence. He did seem strangely indifferent when I'd met him on Wednesday.

"I'm sure Yosuke will come back this way eventually," I tried to reassure Chie with. "You think so," She asked with a sniffle, and I nodded.

"Sure, until then do you want to hang out with me? I can take my break right now and we can have something to eat."

Chie nodded quickly, "Uh-huh. Yeah, that sounds alright." I nodded, stood up, and reached out an arm to help her up.

"Thanks."

I smiled at her, "No problem."

After we got to the Food Court, I gave Chie a smile, "So… what were you guys doing in the Electronics Department, anyway?"

Chie seemed to be feeling better now that she was away from the TVs, though still looked worried about something. "We… were looking at TVs when they ran off, my family's been looking for a new one," she eventually explained hurriedly.

Something about the whole thing still seemed off to me…. and it was the rope. I couldn't think of any reason for needing that kind of rope in Junes. But I'd asked her about it and I wasn't getting any answers.

"Hey Chie? You hear about Saki?" I asked after a long thought about the rope. She still had it, so it must have had some purpose. Chie, who had been distracting herself from Yu and Yosuke with food, looked up, "Saki? Isn't she back?"

"So you heard that she was missing? I didn't think anyone else knew," I replied looking surprised. Though she had probably heard through Yosuke that he couldn't get ahold of Saki.

"Oh, Yosuke mentioned that he couldn't get ahold of her by phone," Chie responded as she looked away, "I heard she was hurt, is that true?"

I nodded, "She looked really beat up. I'm worried about what happened, you saw the news right? Saki was the one who discovered Ms. Yamano's body."

Chie looked toward a TV, "You think the killer might have found her?" I simply nodded, Chie looked immediately worried, "W-why would you think that?"

I shrugged, "Like I said, she seems way too hurt for just a fall. But if she did find the killer, how'd she escape?"

"Maybe someone saved her?"

"Maybe," I replied with, "But who? It wasn't the police."

Chie looked like she had remembered something, and whatever it was must have worried her, "Hey, Masahiro-senpai, don't get too worried over Saki, okay?" This declaration caught me by surprise, as Chie suddenly seemed like she knew that asking too many questions about Saki was dangerous. I went quiet and our conversation turned to small talk again.

"I need to get back to work," I said after a few minutes longer, "Do you want to wait for the boys still? Or should I just tell them you're royally pissed if I see them?"

Finally Chie seemed to crack a smile, though it vanished quickly, "No, I should wait for them… in case they don't come back."

That one took me aback, if they don't come back? I mean if she didn't think they'd come back for her why is she even staying?

I didn't have time to ask about it, I had to get back to I heard after the fact that Yosuke now owes Chie another meal for whatever he did.

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 _So this chapter is a bit of a fun tale in the saga of getting it released. After I'd posted the Bonus Scent I went ahead and started immediately on revising this. And I honestly had it set to go the same day. But I intended to wait until yesterday (Monday) to release it._

 _Then I end up losing my entire afternoon, and really being entirely out of sorts for the evening after getting my first job offer in a long time of searching._

 _I really have no excuse for not releasing this earlier today, I was just busy doing other stuff all day._

 _Also don't worry, this isn't going to impact work on new chapters, I actually do most of my writing after 11PM my time. I only will be working 5-9PM._

 _Anyway, onto the chapter at hand…_

 _The bit with Chie is something I intended to do from the beginning. Though I've swung back and forth to if it would count as a "social link" (more on that in a few chapters). At the end of the day, I decided that Social Links proper wouldn't be a thing for someone without a Persona. To a normal person, it's called having a friend._

 _Saki's introduction in this chapter was actually written before the Bonus Scent was even started. And I actually had fun thinking of what kind of condition she would be in considering she was basically saved last minute._

 _The assembly is justifiably downplayed, and I'll freely admit it could have been cut out entirely considering no student died._

 _Also, fun dev fact. That scene with Masahiro watching the students leave school was originally conceived when I planned to have Saki die still._

 _Anyway maybe I'll get Chapter 9 out this week yet since it's only Tuesday. Or maybe I'll just focus on getting new chapters done. I dunno._


	10. Pt 1: Revelations

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

 _So if it wasn't obvious by the fact this is a fanfic, there are spoilers. And there's going to be a MAJOR spoiler about Persona 4 in this chapter. If you haven't already at least completed through December, I suggest you skip over this chapter._

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 **April 24, 2011**

 **Afternoon**

The last month's been strange in Inaba, and it's only managed to get stranger. Saki's been doing better, she's less pale, she's been walking better, apparently she's even getting the cast off her ankle today.

Though, since the day I'd found Chie alone in Junes, Yu, Yosuke, and Her have been acting weird. They'd regularly visit the Electronics Department at Junes every Friday and Sunday, especially since Yukiko had stopped showing up at school. It wasn't that abnormal for her to miss time, but never this long without her or Chie telling me.

Making matters more worrying, the three of them would always walk into the Department and not leave for several hours. They'd always enter and leave the same way, but what they were doing between those moments was a mystery to everyone. I know, I'd asked. It was like they vanished into the storage area of Junes.

And that had me worried, why would anyone spend that long back there? Especially without getting paid, in the case of Yu and Chie. What were they doing back there if they weren't working? I'd be lying if the idea of theft didn't pass my mind, but why would Yosuke want to steal from his Parent's store? He'd have to pack up and return to the City if that happened.

I don't know why today I decided to do something about it. Maybe it was the rain coming later in the week, maybe it was the moon, maybe it was knowing Saki could return to work soon. Either way, today I waited until I saw the three of them head to the Electronics Department, and followed shortly after. Sure enough, they weren't looking at any TVs. But instead of just giving up, I decided to stay nearby. They always came back the same way in the past, so they'd pass through here soon enough. And then I'd finally know where they were going.

They were gone for hours, like always. Thankfully it's never that busy in the electronics department, most customers who tracked me down looking for help were looking for appliances rather than electronics. I just hoped that the three of them wouldn't sneak past while I was helping a customer.

After a while, I started resting against some of the television displays. It had been a few hours of waiting already, and I was on my feet for the entire time. I didn't dare lean against the screens, and I kept my eyes open for any other employees. I'd be in big trouble if I was caught just standing around, morso while leaning on the products.

It was then that I heard a noise. Like someone talking in the distance, maybe past a door. It sounded like...Yu? It was Yu alright, I could tell his voice anywhere. I shot up almost immediately, looking around.

But the sound was coming from behind me?

The only thing behind me was a Television…

I leaned around the TV, checking if there was some phone left behind it. The whole thing being one giant prank would have made too much sense, though, of course there was nothing back there. That was when I felt my hand, grabbing onto the top of the TV, start to slip.

Not the normal kind of slipping down and off the TV, the kind where my hand was rotating around the top of the TV. The kind where my wrist should have hit the screen.

My head immediately pulled back, looking at my hand. The bottom of my palm was doing the impossible, it was literally inside the television screen!

I recoiled reflexively, stumbling backwards as I stared at my hand like a crazy person. My hand… was inside the TV. And yet I could still hear something from inside that unplugged Television. It sounded so much like Yu and somebody else…

Suddenly, the TV screen began to ripple. And a few moments later something, or rather someones, emerged from it. Yu led this group, landing on his feet. Following behind was Yosuke, managing to botch his landing and end up face-first on the ground. And after them came Chie, who was helping Yukiko out of the Television.

Crazy as it all looked, I'm thankful I didn't just faint outright. Instead, I lost my cool pretty strongly. "W-w-w-w-w-" I stammered repeatedly as the group of people who'd just gotten ejected from a Television were getting up, "What the hell was that!?"

Immediately everyone went still, and stared at me. "M-Masahiro?" Chie stammered. I was about to say something when Yu started talking, "Now Akimoto-senpai, I know this looks bad-"

"Bad, it looks impossible! You were in a Television, my hand slid into one!"

Everyone went silent again, I could see on Yu's face that he was worried about something. "I want the truth," I said to Yu, "What is all this about?"

"It's about the Murder," Yu simply started with, "There could have been three murders by now: That Reporter, Saki, and Yukiko."

"Are you saying that all this is related to Televisions?"

Yu nodded, "Exactly. Someone is throwing people into Televisions, and we've been rescuing them."

"Rescuing them?" I asked as I looked over at Yukiko. She looked tired, weak, but nowhere as injured as Saki had.

"There are dangerous things in there, things that are killing people. And we've been going in there to save them. That's why nobody else has died," You replied, then taking on a more serious tone, "Akimoto-senpai, don't tell anyone about this, and don't try going in there yourself."

"Nobody would believe me anyway, I wouldn't even believe you had I not…. Seen this," I said with a sigh, "This is still hard to believe."

"It was crazier actually falling in there," Yosuke said, "You don't want to go in there." Yosuke honestly didn't seem to believe what he was saying, but if Yu was telling the truth about these attempted murders, I wanted to leave this in capable hands.

Yu and everyone left shortly afterwards, leaving me to contemplate this TV Murder.

* * *

 **April 25, 2011**

 **After School**

I couldn't stop thinking about what I saw yesterday the entire day through School. My own friends had been rescuing people…. from inside a Television? The entire thing felt like a bad dream, but that was too crazy to have been a dream. I'd wanted to find one of them, make absolutely sure that I saw what I remembered seeing. But I couldn't, I had work after school once again.

Maybe that was why I was keeping such a close eye on everyone as I headed into Junes today. Or maybe it was just fate telling me to keep an eye out, because I saw someone I recognized in the grocery department. The slouched posture, the half-smile, the lazy eyes, he fit my Father's description perfectly.

The transfer Detective who never seemed to figure out Inaba, Tohru Adachi.

I knew that I'd been told not to tell anyone, I also knew that nobody would have believed me anyway. But I also knew that I had found the murder weapon, no matter how improbable it all seemed. The weapon of someone who apparently had tried to kill twice since that Reporter's death. I had to at least try to get someone to believe me, even if it'd expose everyone's secret. After all, the Police might be looking for a guy with a drug, not someone with a TV. And I didn't trust Yu, Yosuke, and Chie to solve this case on their own.

So I walked up to Adachi, probably the one Detective outlandish enough to believe me, and awkwardly managed to say, "U-um, you're…. with the Inaba Police, right?" Almost immediately, Adachi's pose straightened somewhat and he tried his hardest to look like a commanding figure.

It really didn't work.

"Yes, I am. What do you need, uh…. Citizen?" he overdramatically muddled his way through. If I wasn't trying to get him to listen to me, I'd have facepalmed on the spot. "Um… It's about the Murder case," I explained, and watched as Adachi's face immediately took on a hint of surprise, "I think I might have found out something the Police don't know."

Adachi seemed to be waiting for me to say more, so I continued. "I'll... need to show you it, though. It's… pretty unbelievable. Can you meet me in the Electronics Department in maybe… a half hour?"

The surprise on Adachi's face quickly turned to worry when I'd mentioned Electronics, for a moment I thought he was thinking this was some kind of ambush. But then he seemed to reach a conclusion, and nodded, "Yeah… that's alright."

And then I left him be, and continued to get myself clocked in and to the Electronics Department. The whole TV thing was continuing to gnaw at the back of my mind, I didn't even know why I was so worried about it after nearly a whole day. If I could make Adachi believe me, I figured, I could at least have one person in the Police who knew the truth. At least Yu, Yosuke, and Chie would have some help from the Police.

About 25 minutes later, both Adachi and I met at the TVs. "Now this may seem absolutely crazy," I explained slowly, "But these TVs are the murder weapon."

Adachi laughed lightly, I'd expected him to, as he leaned in to look over the TVs, "So… you're saying the killer bludgeoned his victim with a Television? That's strange, there were no signs of trauma on Ms. Yamano…"

"No no no," I said quickly to stop him, "He… and this is going to sound utterly insane, he throws people into them."

Adachi's eyes went instantly wide as he seemed to realize what I was getting at, "So the electric shock kills them?"

Strike that, he still had no idea. I mentally facepalmed again and reached my arm out to the Television. "No, I mean literally inside," I said as I pushed my hand against the TV. The surface felt… like it was bending ever so slightly at my touch, but it wasn't giving way. "Um…. hold on," I said quickly as I pushed harder, feeling the TV rock a bit on the stand.

"Inside the Television," Adachi muttered with a quiet chuckle, "Look, you probably were just having a nightmare. You're in Ms. Konishi's class, correct? I think I read your name on the class list we were sent when she was missing."

"I'm serious!" I yelled back. "Maybe it was a different TV," I said as I started trying every TV down the row, one by one. They all bent a little, probably just because I was pushing on the screen, but none of them gave way. Finally I came to the final TV in the row. This one I tried to lean against even, and still nothing.

"I don't get it," I said to myself, "How couldn't it work? They all had to get in there somehow…"

Adachi walked back over by me, and I tried once again to stick my hand inside the TV. "Don't worry," I heard him say right behind me, his voice sounding suddenly sinister, as a hand wrapped itself around my mouth.

Instantly I realized that I had just made a terrible mistake. I saw Adachi's other arm touch the TV screen. The screen rippled white as his hand sunk right through. I tried screaming, I really did. But he had my mouth firmly covered. So instead, I tried to struggle, but I was no match against the older man. Quickly my upper body was pushed forward, and I felt my head slip past the screen and into a blinding white light.

I kicked my legs, hoping they would catch on something, and they did. It must have been the edge of the TV, as I wasn't falling any further. I could hear Adachi curse distantly on the other side of the Television, and I felt something push on my legs. After a few moments of pushing, I felt instead something pull off my feet.

And then I realized I was falling. As black rectangles swirled past me.

And then I crashed into something solid, and blacked out.

.

* * *

.

 _Now I know what you're saying "But Slowpoke, that's not the person who's doing the kidnappings right now." And you'd be entirely right, but I came to the conclusion fairly early on in planning this sequence of events that finding a reason for Masahiro to end up on TV, especially with Saki living, was going to be harder than finding a reason for Masahiro to have a run-in with Adachi._

 _Also fun story worth telling, originally I wanted Masahiro to actually fall into the TV when Yu and the others were returning. But it seemed too forced and too….. special? Anyway, I decided to scrap that and instead just have Masahiro discover their secret the natural way._

 _And if all you know is your friends are saving people from inside a TV, I don't care if they tell you to keep it secret, you're finding some way to get them help!_

 _I have to admit, Adachi is a fun character to write when he's toeing the line between sane and insane, like in this chapter._

 _Anyway, I'll be getting the next chapter up in a few minutes, so just hang around and enjoy the free refreshments._


	11. Pt 2: The Bloody Dormitory

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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* * *

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 **? ?, ?**

 **?**

I didn't know how long I was out, I didn't even know why I was out to be honest. All I knew was I woke up face down on the floor in a familiar room, in a familiar dorm building….. it seemed.

It was my old Dorm, at least it was meant to look like it. But there was one large difference, the walls were splattered with some red substance….. it looked like blood.

I tried to stand back up, but my head was throbbing and I wound up grabbing the desk in the room to keep myself from falling over. After taking a moment to catch my breath and steady myself, I began to stumble out into the hallway, looking for a way out.

The problem was the hallways went on seemingly forever, the staircases were hidden, and I could never find an exit. In fact, I seemed to keep heading up rather than down.

I'd started on the second floor, assuming it really was my room I'd started in, and after a while I'd climbed my way to the fourth floor. I knew there was always a large meeting room on this floor, and at this point that seemed as good a place as any to stop at to try and figure out where I was.

But now, the room seemed all the more terrifying. Like the rest of the Dorm, it was enlarged, and there was blood spattered across the walls and windows. Golden fog was visible through the windows. And most terrifying of all, laying there on the couch in the middle of the room, was me….

"Well well, look who we have here," this… Other Me said in a distorted voice, "Myself."

I kid you not, I think my jaw hit the floor when I heard that. Okay, maybe not the floor, but it wasn't shut. "W-what are you saying? Why do you…. look like me?" I stammered as I backed up toward the door, which I discovered was now shut tight on me. "What's the rush," the Other Me said jokingly as he sat up, "We've only had forever together, and we only get so long here."

"T-T-Th-Things in here kill people..." I stammered, that was what I was warned about. But does that mean…. I'm inside the television? That thought only made my head hurt more, I couldn't even remember how I fell in. The last thing I could remember was…. walking into Junes…

"What's the matter," the Other Me said again, "Can't remember? That seems to be a recurring trend with you."

"What do you mean a trend?" I shot back, starting to get angry at this person impersonating me. "This isn't the first time you've decided it's just easier for you to forget your mistakes. I don't want to remember my mistakes, they just hurt too badly." this Impersonator taunted, stressing the I and My the second time.

"Cut that I and My garbage, you can't possibly know about me!" I yelled back, as I heard sounds of a struggle the floor below me. "I can't cut it," the Other Me said with a hint of glee, "I'm you, and you're me."

The struggling sounds were been getting closer, even as the Impersonator and I stood in silence. Just staring at each other from across the room.

"You really don't get it, do you?" the Other Me said, "I'm you. I know everything about you. I know every city you used to live in, I know every friend you've ever had, every friend you've ever lost, I know every school you've attended, and I know every memory we've tried to repress."

"Nobody can possibly know all that!" I yelled back as I started hearing footsteps outside the door. I prayed silently that it was help, and not something else that wanted to kill me.

"I know more about you than you know about yourself. Because I am your repressed emotions, your memories. You might not remember her, but I do. I remember how we let her die," the Other Me responded with.

My jaw was shaking by now, I knew that this person was lying. They were just making things up, I'd never let anyone die. I was breathing heavily, this person was lying, they're just guessing! I felt my knees give out as I fell to the ground, and the door behind me swung open.

"Masahiro-senpai!" I heard a familiar voice cry out…. Chie?

"That's right, I know everything about you, because I'm you," the Other Me continued gloating, getting up and standing over me now, "I'm Masahiro Akimoto. The boy who can't face the horrible things he's done in the past, so I repress the memories, pretend to be all happy and jolly, and will end up getting more people killed because I wanted to be the hero-"

"Shut up," I muttered to the ground before lifting my head up, "Shut up!"

"Aww, why so fiesty now? Is it because we have company during our little… heart-to-heart?" the Other Me teased as we both looked over at the group in the doorway. My heart seemed to…. be a little more relieved seeing the first three people. Yu, Yosuke, and Chie were there, and Saki came in behind them along with…. the strangest thing I'd ever seen.

It was like a short round bear…. wearing a clown suit. And making the most awful squeaking noises as it walked.

And then I realized, this thing was spouting off about being me with them around! So I turned back to it, "Shut up! I don't care what you say. You don't know anything about me, because you're…"

Suddenly I heard a chorus of voices cry out, "Don't!" But it was too late….

"You're not me!"

The Other Me laughed at my statement, "Oh wow, amazing what an audience can do to you. Afraid you're going to have to try to forget this, too? Say it again!"

"You're not me, and you never will be!"

The Other Me just kept laughing, as the windows in the room shattered, black smoke seeping in through them and surrounding the Other Me. The entire scene was getting so unbelievable that I felt faint. I could just barely make out the sounds someone ordering somebody called Teddie to do something. And then I was being dragged across the floor, until a couch blocked my vision.

"W-what's going on?" I managed to ask while I looked at the feet of everyone from behind the couch that was now being used to hide me. "Shh," a scared responded with, "Don't let it hear you."

"Let what hear me?" I asked, before I realized what it was. The Other Me had turned into some kind of monster…

I heard the strangest noise after that, like a chorus of voices all shouting the same one word in unison…. "Persona." I didn't see much of what was going on, but I could hear it. Something in a voice like the Other Me, was saying "I am a Shadow… the true inner self...Leave me alone, or I'll kill you just like I killed her!"

"That thing is a Shadow," I heard the scared voice say between calling out tips to the others. I turned my head around and saw that weird bear creature hiding with me, "They come out of humans who are in this world- Look out, it's strong against Electric!- and they go bearzerk if you reject them."

Shadow…. that word made me feel something…. I've never felt before. Rage? Sorrow? Fear? All at once? I held my head and curled up in a tighter ball, I didn't want those feelings. I just wanted them to go away, I just had to think of something happy instead…

And then I heard a crashing sound, and the Bear called out, "Yosuke's in danger! He needs help!"

It didn't take a genius to figure out that the noise must have been Yosuke getting thrown into something large and heavy. And that fact scarred me, more than maybe it should have. They were all going to die here, weren't they? And then that Bear, and then me…

"Why do you keep struggling!?" the monster yelled out, "What do you hope to achieve by forcing the truth onto me? I'm happier this way!"

"Nobody can be truly happy living a lie!" I heard Chie yell out as something blunt hit the monster, "I won't let him do that to hi-ahh!"

Then I heard another crashing sound, and the Bear called out "Chie-chan's in trouble!" First Yosuke, now Chie…. this…. was all my fault…. again…

Again?

"This is all my fault, isn't it?" I asked by Bear Companion

"It's not your fault," he said hopefully, "Someone probably tossed you in here, right? "

I nodded, "I think so? I…. can't remember, honestly. I just remember going to Junes, and then waking up here. I guess I'm just as bad as that thing said I was, huh?"

And that was when I finally realized that that imposter had been telling the truth…. at least about me forgetting things. "That's what Shadows do," the Bear replied as it peeked over the couch again, "That thing really is a part of you."

A part of me… and now it was beating up on my friends because I got stuck in here. Even if someone else threw me in here, it was my own fault that this was happening. Yet strangely, I didn't feel so bad about it. If anything, I felt like I had to do something about it.

"Someone told me once," I muttered to nobody in particular, I didn't even know why I was saying it, "You have to make up for your mistakes, even if they were accidental."

So even if I was scared, even if I thought it was fatal, I had to do something.

And suddenly I found the strength to move my legs enough to stand, wobbling as I stood, but standing. And I finally saw what I'd only heard before.

The Other Me had turned into a four-armed monster, two arms holding…. well, guns. One held to its own head, the other was firing randomly at everyone fighting it. The other two arms, the lower two, were swinging wildly about as well, trying to grab onto anything it could find and throw them. Its body was comprised of colorful patterns ranging from green to purple, and it wore a mask emblazoned with a crescent moon over its face. Honestly, it looked rather desperate the way it was swinging its arms around randomly at people.

Chie and Yosuke had been thrown into a pair of bookshelves, and looked to be knocked unconscious from it. While Yu and Saki were still fighting the monster… the Shadow… alongside two monsterous figures of their own. The one by Yu looked like a tall man in a black trench coat and silver helmet, wielding a sword the same as Yu. While Saki's looked like a woman in a White and Pink dress, with multi-colored eyes, fangs, and a leopard's tail. She seemed to fight with claws, while Saki slashed around with a large knife.

It took a moment to process what I was seeing, friends from School fighting Shadows alongside Monsters of their own. And yet somehow… it all felt right. And in that moment, I was more certain than ever I had to help. I threw an arm outward, shouting, "Hey! Imposter me! Forgetting someone!?"

And then I ran, I ran like someone who had no idea what he was doing. I probably didn't at this point, maybe I was just imagining the whole thing. Maybe my headache had knocked me out, maybe I was still curled up in a ball waiting to die.

The Shadow was tall, tall enough that when I finally connected, I did so in its knees. And knees should not bend the way the Shadow's knees bent, it crumpling to the ground with me on top of it.

Everyone, even the Bear, seemed stunned for a moment at what I'd just done. "It's…. it's down!" the Bear finally called out, as everyone snapped back into reality. And then came the dog pile.

I was wailing on the Shadow as best as I could, as Yu and Saki charged in as well. The monsters with them attacking as well. In its downed state, the best the Shadow could do was knock people away, and they just kept coming right back in for more. Finally we felt satisfied and all backed off, Yu and Saki helping Yosuke and Chie to stand up.

But the Shadow monster never stood back up, instead it burst in a cloud of black smoke, leaving behind… the Other Me again. This Shadow that came out of me, claiming to be me, who turns into a monster if I deny it's real.

"So this…. this is part of me, huh?" I asked everyone else. "Everyone has something like this," Yosuke said as he limped over by me, "We've all had to face our's with at least Yu and Teddie around."

I sighed deeply and stepped toward my Shadow, looking over the ground. Its monstrous form had left behind its mask, and the two silver guns it had been attacking with. I kicked them both into a corner, and in an instant I remembered something.

A dream, of figures cloaked in fog, and a gun…

"Again…." I muttered as I looked my Shadow in its golden eyes, "I don't know if anyone else can really understand what it feels like having a Shadow talking about things you know nothing about. I know you're right, I know that there's things I've tried to put a happy face on for. I know there's things I don't remember that I should, and according to you I've done some bad things in the past. But… I only know that… because all of this, ALL of this, is me.."

I reached out a hand and helped my Shadow to his feet, "You're me. And I'm you."

For the first time I noticed the perpetual frown my Shadow wore, as it snapped around. My Shadow was… smiling at me. And then it was consumed in a blue light, bright enough to illuminate the whole room. My Shadow vanished into the light, replaced instead by a tall… monster… like Yu and Saki fought with. This one had the same multiple-colored skin, white leafy hair, gloves, shoes, underwear, and a red piece of cloth strung over one shoulder. Around its neck was a flower bud-like scepter.

The name seemed to come to mind like an old friend, "Dionysus."

And with that, the figure vanished, replaced instead by a card adorned with its image. When I grabbed the card, it disappeared, but I knew Dionysus was still there inside of me….

"Persona," I muttered to myself, the word just felt right.

And then I almost fell over, had Yosuke and Chie not caught me by my arms. My head was throbbing again, and so was my right knee. How I hadn't noticed until now, I'll never know. Maybe it was the adrenaline of not knowing where I was, then seeing my Shadow go berserk.

"I…. I'm sorry everyone," I said, indicating to my right leg, "I don't know if I can get out of here on my own."

"Don't worry," Yu said with a smile, "We'll help you get out of here." And then he did something I never expected, he let me wrap my arm around his shoulders and helped me walk on only one leg.

To think I thought Yu might have been trying to steal from Junes. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

"Thank you…." I muttered as we began our long walk back to the entrance of this world, and back finally to the safety of Junes.

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* * *

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 _If you say in the second chapter that there is a dream about throwing a gun, in the second or tenth chapter it absolutely must have gone off._

 _A Chekov's Dream, if you may._

 _This chapter was basically my time to go full symbolism. Blood-spattered walls? A Gun-toting Shadow? Everything ties back to one central theme, this supposed someone that Masahiro "let die."_

 _So fun development fact on this chapter, this was actually the final chapter I wrote before finalizing Masahiro's backstory, and ironically was one of the most broken chapters as a result. Originally, Masahiro's Shadow was going to go on and on about blaming himself for actually failing to get into Gekkoukan High. And his whole character arc was meant to be about betting over his self-blame for something so miniscule._

 _Also hey look, Saki finally showed up! No, I hadn't forgotten about her. Just giving her downtime because remember she was saved hours before her death would have happened, and being rescued usually ends with you taking downtime._

 _Anyway it's time to get down to business. There's a killer to catch, and Masahiro is one of the few people with the abilities needed to catch them. But first, I think he needs a little rest. The next chapter might be late, because I need to work on some writing for a TwitchPlaysPokemon collaboration first lest I forget._


	12. The Investigation Team

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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* * *

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 **? ?, ?**

 **?**

It all seemed familiar somehow. The wind, the sounds of the sea, I'd lived here before. This was Gekkoukan High. I was almost alone on the roof of the School, the only person there with me was a girl. She looked a year younger than me, with brown hair and a Gekkoukan High Girl's uniform on.

"Well, you're someone I haven't seen in a long time," she joked, even though I had no recollection of who she even was. "You don't remember me, do you?" She asked as she sat down next to me. I just shook my head, I knew a lot of people at Gekkoukan and she wasn't one of them. I tried to ask who she was, but found my mouth just wouldn't move.

"I suppose it can't be helped," she said sadly, "I never did get a chance to really say goodbye when I…." Her voice trailed off, "Nevermind. I see that you've…. awakened to your power." She then smiled at me and abruptly changed the subject, "It always was nice on the rooftop, wasn't it? It's no surprise we saw each other again here."

Even though I didn't know who she was, she did have a point. Part of me always did love Port Island and Iwatodai, the smell of the sea, the warm air, it made me wonder why I wanted to leave.

"You left because you couldn't stand remembering," the girl said in a knowing tone. "You don't remember what happened here, with you and I, but you left because you didn't want to face what you thought was the truth."

My Shadow…. had said the same thing. That I buried memories inside myself because I had let someone die. It even tried to kill everyone else, saying that they would I'd end up killing them too. But it wasn't like I actually believed that this girl was that person. I mean, sure I didn't know who this girl was, but for all I knew she was just a figment of my imagination.

"These dreams are part of your subconscious, nothing here happens without purpose," the girl said again, "You just don't understand the purpose of this yet." And with that, she stood up and walked over by the fence that surrounded the roof. "I'll see you again, Akimoto-chan," she then said with a wave as she walked through the fence.

"Hey, wait!" I finally yelled out as she began to float away. She didn't stop her departure, but she did turn her head back to ask, "Yes?"

"Who are you?" I yelled to her, "How do you know about my Persona?" She just smiled, "Let's just say the dead have a way of knowing these things." And with that she continued walking through the air until she had dissipated.

* * *

 **April 30, 2011**

 **Morning**

My heart sank into my stomach when I woke up, because for the first time I realized that my Shadow was really telling the truth about me. Call it crazy, call it reading too much into a dream, but after what she said at the end, I think that girl was the one. I quickly grabbed the nearest scrap of paper I could find to write down a description. Brown hair…. Gekkoukan Uniform…. Year younger than me…..

I could look up more about this girl later, but for now I needed to get ready for school. I'd spent the last few days at home after what happened to me inside the TV. As soon as I turned up again my Father had me looked at by a Doctor. The official diagnosis was I'd suffered a concussion, probably from when I landed in that Dorm, and my right knee had been sprained, not badly, but enough that I'd be wearing a brace for a few weeks. I was ill too but that passed by today and I was finally ready to return to class!

I sighed as I looked over myself in the mirror, aside for the brace on my knee, I was looking pretty well back to normal. In spite of that good news, I sighed and pulled something out from under my bed. It was a long box, just over 100 centimeters long.

You see, back when I attended Gekkoukan High I'd been part of the fencing club there. One of my more questionable choices at the time was buying this saber. It was an actual combat saber, designed for thrusting with a straight blade. I had it made specially for me; one of the other members helped me with the cost. I'd never really used it before, and I never told my Father about it, but now I finally had a reason to use it. And today, I needed it to prove a point.

And so I stuffed the box awkwardly into my bag, even though it still stuck out. And headed out the door for school.

"Hey! Masahiro-senpai!" I heard Yosuke yell from behind me as I was walking, so I slowed to let him catch up. "Feeling better? You've missed the last two days," he asked as he looked around awkwardly, "It's okay, Yukiko's had to miss a lot longer. But hey, she's coming back today, too!"

"I'm doing fine, I just caught a cold or something, and tweaked my knee in there," I admitted, skipping over the concussion thing, and looked down at my brace. Yosuke, however, was looking at my bag, "What's that you got hanging out of your bag? Some kind of thank you gift for saving your life?" Yosuke laughed, and I just held onto the box tightly, "It's nothing for you. Say, are you…. and the others…. meeting anywhere today? Since Yukiko is back?"

Yosuke looked taken aback by the upfront question, "Well… I guess we are. We were actually going to talk about it during class…"

"I guess that makes sense," I said with a nod, "I'll ask Saki about it then during school. Say, how's Junes taking everything with me and Saki?"

"Well as far as the Police were concerned you were a missing person, there's nothing that my Parents can really do about you missing work during that time," Yosuke said, "By the way, did anyone talk to you about what happened? What'd you say?"

"Just my Dad so far, though I guess that's a perk of him working for the Police. I was clocked in at Junes so I couldn't lie about where I was kidnapped, just… I left out the parts about the TV. And you guys. I just said that when I came to I was left out behind Junes."

Yosuke nodded, "Makes sense. Yeah you probably wouldn't have been reported missing for another day or two if you hadn't stayed clocked in at work. Good thing you were, too, the fog was rolling in another two days. You could have ended up the second victim in all this."

Me being the second victim. That thought alone was more terrifying than anything my Shadow had said. I nodded in agreement as we approached the gates, "Well I need to get to class, I'll see you after school hopefully. If I don't, tell Yu that I wanna talk to him."

* * *

 **April 30, 2011**

 **After School**

Saki didn't know much about a meeting after school, but she also agreed that they'd probably have one considering Yukiko was back at school. Of course, when you don't know where people are meeting, it means you're stuck checking every possible place that they could be meeting, bottom to top.

Library? No.

Outside? No.

One of the Club Rooms? No.

Class 2-2? No.

It took me a good 15 minutes to rule out everything…. but the roof. Suffice to say, it wasn't hard for me to know this was the place. What with anyone probably from here down to the first house down the road being able to hear Yosuke yelling about catching some asshole.

So I did the only thing I could do to get their attention, I knocked the door-

No, I didn't knock the door down. I just opened it normally. Though I did clear my throat loudly enough for them all to turn their heads, "You guys having a meeting without me?"

"Akimoto-senpai?" Yukiko asked surprised, though no one else looked quite so surprised. "I thought you were still going to be out a good week," Chie said, "Your knee seemed pretty messed up when we got you out of the TV."

"Wait, Akimoto-senpai was thrown into the TV as well?" Yukiko asked Chie. Why Chie? I was there as well now. "Actually," Yu interjected as he sat down next to Yosuke on the vents, "Since you're here. We'd like to ask you about what you remember prior to being thrown into the TV."

I…. shrugged and walked over by them and sat next to Yukiko. Hey, she was new to this whole TV thing as well. "I don't know," I said bluntly, "I remember getting to Junes, and the rest of it is all one giant blur. I can't even exactly remember everything that happened before I got my Persona. The Doctors said I probably got concussed at some point while I was 'kidnapped.'" Yes, I air quoted the word kidnapped.

"So all you know is you were at Junes when it happened," Yu said dejectedly. "He'd already clocked in, and never clocked out. So that at least gives a timetable to when he went missing," Yosuke added in.

"There's… one other thing I want to say," I added as I grabbed the box from my bag, "I want to help you catch this guy. I know I disobeyed Yu, but I can fight. I've got a Persona now, and I have this."

I set the box down and opened it carefully, just enough that they could see the glint of steel inside. "Where did you get that," Saki asked with wide eyes. "That craftsmanship is too good even for Daidara," Chie muttered.

"You'd be amazed the things you can find living in the city. I had it made back when I used to be on the Gekkoukan High fencing team, but I wasn't allowed to use it for anything more than practice. Turns out it wasn't such a waste of money after all now," I explained as I closed the box and put it back into my bag.

"The more help the better," Yu said after I'd put away my sword, "We need to catch whoever is doing this before he strikes again. So welcome to the team, Akimoto-senpai."

I couldn't help but smile at the welcome, "Thanks, but… the senpai really isn't that needed." I wasn't lying, it just seemed wrong for Persona users to be calling me Senpai. Don't ask me why, it just did. Maybe having the same power put us on the same level.

I must have zoned out thinking about this group I'd just joined, because my attention snapped back to the group when I heard Yukiko mention my name, "- Akimoto was the fourth… But I have a feeling this isn't the end of it. If we had an idea of who might be the next target, wouldn't we have an advantage over the killer?"

"So we'll outsmart them, huh? Yeah, that might work." Yosuke said with a nod, "So let's see if we can find out what ties the victims together."

"Well it all started with Ms. Yamano," I said, "Then the killer went after Saki, who found her body. And I was friends with Saki, so that might connect me to the first murder. And it's no secret that Ms. Yamano was staying at Yukiko's family's Inn."

"So all the kidnappings were related to that murder?" Chie asked and I nodded. "It makes some sense. But why go beyond Saki? What would you or Yukiko know that is so dangerous?" Yu asked.

That one I had no answer to, and so I just shrugged, "Just a theory."

"The outlier seems to be Akimoto-Senpai," Yukiko said quietly, "All the other victims have been females."

"He's the outlier in more ways than one," Saki added, "I was kidnapped walking home from the Police station, Yukiko was kidnapped at her home. Masahiro was kidnapped while working at Junes. The most public kidnapping yet."

"It's like the killer thought he was a threat…" Chie murmured.

"Hey, I'm still here you know," I said, "Though you are right… it's like the killer got desperate and felt he had to kill me. But….. did I tell the killer that I knew about the TVs? Is he really just targeting women?"

Now that admission got Chie fired up, "That's just creepy, the killer could be some kind of pervert targeting women like that!"

"I think it's safe to say that the culprit is targeting people connected in some way to Ms. Yamano's murder," Yu said after listening to us discuss, "If they're female or not we don't know yet."

Yosuke nodded, "There's a third angle we can take, too. If another person disappears…"

"... You think that they could show up on the Midnight Channel?" Chie finished for him, "That happened right before Yukiko was kidnapped."

"I don't remember seeing Masahiro on there, but it didn't rain until the day we rescued him," Saki added in, "We can't be sure if he did or didn't appear on the Midnight Channel."

"Exactly," Yosuke said, "Every time we've been able to check, the Victim has appeared on the Midnight Channel before disappearing. Saki-senpai and Yukiko for sure. Like some sort of ransom note."

"So the next time it rains…" Yukiko trailed off saying. And we all nodded I'm pretty sure. "So next time it rains, we all watch the Midnight Channel. If anyone shows up, they're probably the next victim," I said, "Finally something that sounds like a lead!"

"You just joined, no need to act like you've been investigating this case all month," Yosuke quipped.

"Hey, I'm just trying to be helpful," I replied with a grin, "Besides… I want to put this whole TV Murder thing behind me as soon as possible."

"Understandable," Yosuke said as he looked over at Yukiko and Chie, "Hey, shouldn't those be done by now?"

The girls were holding a pair of Instant Noodle bowls, and come to think of it they didn't prepare those any time we were talking. They must be easily done by now.

Chie looked just as confused as I was, did she honestly forget the food sitting in her lap? That might have been a first. But she looked down and remembered before excitedly exclaiming, "Woah, that's right! Chow time!"

Yosuke just kept watching the two as they began to eat, and I already had a feeling this was trouble and slid a little bit away from the girls. "Hey, could I try just a little bit of that!? Just one tiny bite!" Yosuke practically begged. Yep, this was already going south.

Chie looked miffed at Yosuke's question, she probably could guess where this was going as well, "Hand off the soba, pal! Go get your own if you want some." But Yosuke just stared at her pitifully, and eventually Chie submitted, "Rrrngh…. Okay, just one bite, got it?"

She handed off her soba, and Yosuke gladly took it and… began scarfing it down….

Yu, meanwhile, was watching Yukiko closely. And she noticed it as well, "Do you want to try some?"

"Sure," Yu nodded, and he took Yukiko's meal from her and…. also started to scarf it down….

There's a rule of life in this somewhere, never get between high schoolers and instant noodles.I facepalmed as Yosuke started praising the noodles, not even hiding the fact he was trying to eat the whole thing. Yu too, for that matter, and they were both starting to eat faster.

Chie almost jumped straight up, "Hey! What are you doing?!" Yu and Yosuke stopped eating immediately, looking at each other in fearful expressions. Quickly, they gave the meals back to their owners, but it was too late.

"You ate everything…" Chie said, stunned. "M-My fried tofu…" Yukiko stuttered out.

"I hope you guys understand what this means," Chie said through gritted teeth, getting even closer to the other two guys. Yosuke knew what was coming, and quickly tried to cover up what happened, "W-wait, wait, wait! Stop! I'm sorry! I'll buy you steak! Real steak! It'll be on me!"

"Steak?" Chie asked, instantly perking up at the question. But Yukiko, not so much, "My tofu…" she lamented.

"Hey, don't worry, Yukiko," I said from next to her, "Yosuke promised to buy you steak too, I'm sure." I shot Yosuke a glare, and Yosuke visibly gulped. "Yeah," Chie added in, "You can eat instant noodles anytime. Right?"

"Well, as long as it isn't too fatty," Yukiko relented. And Chie smiled, turning back to Yosuke to say, "Alright, we've reached a verdict! You are hereby sentenced to buying us steak!" She then turned toward Yu and I, "What wouldn't be too fatty? Filet?" She didn't even give us a chance to respond before continuing, "Ooh, filet sounds nice and expensive! Filet, filet, filet, filet mignon!" Chie had begun to chant now as Yosuke panicked and looked toward Yu, "You gotta pony up too! You're just as much to blame!"

Yu frantically nodded as Yosuke started to head for the stairs. Though I wasn't getting any free steak, I decided to tag along as well. Just because while they were getting treated, I had money to get myself something to eat as well.

We talked more about the case while we were there. And that detective Adachi had been lurking around as well. When he finally talked to us, he seemed surprised to see me around, especially so soon after I had been found. Though really, he was surprised about all of us. A strange detective, he is…

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* * *

.

 _Fun fact! Masahiro's saber is actually based on a real military saber! The 1913 "Patton Saber" to be exact. Also I know that I haven't really given any image about Masahiro. That's on purpose, I can't draw. Like at all. I can give you someone else's picture that is my inspiration, but that's about all I can do. Though I think it has to be via PMs..._

 _So you probably were wondering what happened to the chapter. I posted back on Friday(?) on Twitter that I'd be having to delay this chapter. I wound up being pressed against the deadline for this year's TPP Writer's Collab, Shattered Crystal, and spent most of the weekend finishing my bits up for that. This'll probably count as the chapter for this week, and more on that in a moment._

 _With this chapter, I now have finished all the chapters I had written prior to my January 1st posting of this story! Which is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good in that I no longer have to do as extensive an editing process, as everything will be using the most up-to-date storylines. Bad in that I am going to be doing a lot more writing again._

 _After going over some of the feedback from the last chapter, I decided to switch around the next two chapters. Originally I was going to do some misc. "social linking" first, and Yu next. I decided to flip those around so what Masahiro's Shadow said, and what this mysterious Dream Girl said, gets a little more explanation faster._

 _In a bit of self-promotion for a good cause here at the end, last Friday the trailer for Pokethon Heroes launched. It's a Pokemon-based charity marathon that happens once a year. This year it'll be on July 28th, and benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I might even be in attendance, assuming things work out with me taking time off from work. For more information check out pokethon dot net._

 _Late Edit: I almost forgot to mention. I've heard a few times about things that seem "strange" about the story since Yu came around. Good! Something by now is supposed to be feeling a little... off? There's one more twist in this story, months away..._


	13. Becoming Linked, Socially

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

 _._

* * *

 _._

 **May 6, 2011**

 **After School**

Weird as it might sound to say, life seemed to return to routine after I joined the Investigation Team. I got back to working at Junes, and wound up working through most of Golden Week for that matter. The only real change was I now had my Fridays and Sundays off for sure, because apparently if something were to happen Yu decided those are the days we have to go into the TVs.

And since today was a Friday, I had off. I was just about to leave school when I was stopped by a familiar face. "Oh, Narukami," I said as I saw him standing in the doorway of my classroom. "Hey Akimoto-senpai. I was wondering if you'd like to walk home and talk about what happened," Yu said from the door, making sure to choose his words carefully.

"That's fine by me," I replied with. "Some sort of initiation?" I then asked, being intentionally as vague as possible. Last thing I needed was anyone asking too many questions.

We set off fairly quickly after that, and it didn't take long before the conversation turned to the TV World.

"Akimoto-senpai," Yu said after we'd safely left the school grounds, "I wanted to talk to you about your Shadow."

"I figured you would at some point," I said with a frown, "Afraid of having a supposed killer on your team?" Yu stopped abruptly after I said that, looking me right in the eye, "I never said I or anyone else was afraid of you. As far as Shadows go, your's wasn't that bad even."

"You mean other people's Shadows talked about a murder they can't even remember?" I shot back. "A death? No. But do you really think you're the only person who's been running away from something?" Yu asked. His voice wasn't angry…. just stern. Stern enough to keep me quiet for a moment.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Everyone else knew what their Shadow was talking about. You really don't know anything about what your Shadow meant by letting someone die?"

"There is one thing," I said after a moment, "It's weird, though."

"Nothing's that weird compared to this case," Yu reminded me. He was right, if I can be thrown in the TV, this dream could actually mean something. "I had this dream the other night. There was a girl in it. She was wearing the uniform of the school I used to go to, Gekkoukan High. She knew about my Persona, and said something happened between the two of us. I think….. So she might be the one. Whoever she is," I explained, as I trailed off at the end. Here we were talking so casually when this girl might be dead, and it might be my fault.

"Gekkoukan," Yu muttered, "Well I guess that's a start in figuring out what happened with you, huh?" Seemed he had already decided that he was going to help.

"Yu, you don't have to worry about my problems," I said as we started to walk again. Yu still thinking over the dream I told him about.

"Of course I do," He replied, "Because I believe you're innocent. And I want to show you that, too."

Truth be told, just hearing Yu say that made me start to feel better. And we both seemed content with how the discussion had ended up.

"So how are you liking Inaba so far?" I asked, breaking the silence since Yu had said he'd help me with my memories problem. "It's boring," Yu replied with an entirely straight face, "I don't know what I'd do without this case."

"Yeah, you're sort of right," I admitted, "Back before all this started I'd just go to school, work at Junes, and sometimes hang out with Chie and Yukiko. Inaba isn't a bustling city, that's for sure."

Yu just nodded, "So what was it like at your School?" It wasn't that hard to know what School he was talking about, it was Gekkoukan.

"Pretty great, actually. Though the staff was probably more outlandish than anyone at Yasogami. We had a garden, an observatory, and the school was probably twice the size of Yasogami."

"I don't believe that last one," Yu interjected with, grinning as he said it.

"People wouldn't until they see it. The School had a huge construction budget I guess, being backed by the Kirijo Group helped," I continued to gush. "So why did you ever leave," Yu suddenly asked, stopping my train of thought on the spot.

"What? Well… because my Father was moving out here to Inaba. And, well, apparently it was because of what happened," I said, and Yu fell quiet for a moment. "Would you go back if you could?" Yu finally asked. I thought for a moment, and then sighed, "I don't know, maybe in the end I came here for a reason. To help with all this."

"It's good to have help," Yu said with a nod. That was the last we talked about the Case, or Gekkoukan, at least for the day. I felt better already about joining the Team by the time I parted ways with Yu.

* * *

 **May 6, 2011**

 **Evening**

"Oh, you're home," I heard the voice of my Father say as I opened the door to our house. "Yeah, I walked home with Narukami. The latest transfer student?" I replied with as I took off my shoes and headed into the main room.

"You really shouldn't be out that late, Masahiro. Especially after everything that's happened in this Town already. A murder, three missing students. Central already said after that Amagi girl's disappearance that if it happened again they'd be sending in a specialist. Then you of all people go missing? And you claim you don't remember anything about it?"

I could sense the frustration in his voice, and he had every right to be. I had no recollection of who pushed me into the TV, or if anyone did at all. And it's not like he'd believe me saying I was inside the TV in the first place. However, since I was a missing Yasogami High student, the Police were correctly believing it linked to Yukiko and Saki's disappearances.

"Look, I know it's dangerous out here. That's why I walked home with Narukami. Two people haven't gone missing at once yet, have they?" I said after a lengthy pause. It seemed enough for my Father, considering he just sighed and looked back at a stack of papers, "It's better that you both were together than alone, I suppose. But if we don't catch this guy, he might start going after pairs of students."

Victory! I live to not have to try explaining a world inside the TV for another day. With that complete, I was insanely quick to head up to my room and get my boxed sword out. If I'm going to be helping to save anyone else who goes missing, I'll need more than just swinging a piece of metal around rustilly.

As I held the sword in my hand for the first time since moving to Inaba, I began to think back to the last time I'd used it.

I wasn't allowed to actually fight anyone with it, but sometimes I'd practice with it in the evenings in my dorm room. Truth be, I never had used a weapon before until I met a member of the Fencing Club at Gekkoukan; Mitsuru Kirijo. She was the Student Council President, as well as the one who convinced me to join the Fencing Club. It was arguably the least intensive sport there, even if I knew literally nothing about Fencing.

Now, I adjusted my feet into a fighting stance with relative the saber lightly in my left hand. I was left handed normally, but I felt oddly off balance as I stood there. Like I was missing something on my right side.

I simply chalked it up to not having practiced in nearly nine months. I took a few slow steps, grinning to myself as I remembered tripping over my own two feet at practice trying to figure out how to move. I didn't move any faster now because I didn't want to make my Father wonder what I was doing.

A thrust here, a slash there, being careful not to hit anything in my room. I tried turning around and attacking, any kind of attack I thought I might have to use against a Shadow. Then again, my experience with them was…. limited to one. And that one I just tackled into a wall. Even so, I was confident that I knew what I was doing!

Swinging around a real blade wasn't like the little blades used for sport. I remembered a time I actually let go of it practicing in my Dorm, it may or may not have stuck in the floor a few centimeters. Nobody ever noticed the mark it left.

And then I thought back to what my Shadow had said. Me? Let someone die? If that dream was to be believed, it must have been someone who went to Gekkoukan as well. But even for all my memories of Fencing, I couldn't remember anyone who I'd let die.

Sure, there were tons of people who came down with that Apathy Syndrome thing that year, but none of them really died.

Right?

I sighed audibly as I continued my cycle of walking and slicing and thrusting around my room for another few minutes.

"I never knew anyone who died!" I yelled internally as I thrust my saber again, and felt it go plunging into something on my desk…

"Oh shit," I quietly cursed as I looked to see what I'd hit. It was a book, a blue one at that. Trimmed in gold, looking to be maybe thirty pages long, more like some hardcover notebook than anything else. Maybe a notebook from a class I'd long forgotten? I quickly removed my saber from the book, careful not to go flying back in the process, and put the saber away again.

"One mistake is enough for one night," I thought to myself as I returned to my desk and the mysterious book. I casually started to flip through the pages, and to my surprise each and every one of them was blank. No words, no pictures, no lines to write on even.

The only thing was a folded up note, tucked neatly on the 22nd page.

"Thought this might be useful to you.

You can record your friends, old and new, here.

-M"

M? And an empty book at that? The whole thing had that weird feeling of importance behind it.

Still, whoever gave me this I must have known well enough for them to just use a letter. So I sat down and tried to come up with all the people I knew with a name starting with M…

There was Mitsuru, but I doubt she would have given me anything, let alone something this…. Personal. There was that old lady at the Bookstore, this would be something her and her husband would have given me. And then there was that strange fortune teller; it sounds crazy to mention, but blue and gold trimming was kind of her theme when she was at the Culture Festival last year.

Either way, I had it now. So why not put it to good use? I flipped it open to the first page and began to write down Yu's name. Almost immediately the book began to fill itself in! My chair shot back as I stood up, hands off the book as I watched it continue to fill in. Something about a Fool, a picture of Yu, and a bar. Like a black bar, with roughly ten markers on it, and one of them filled in black.

Since this book just added in all kinds of stuff on Yu, I'd wager to guess that bar was going to fill in on its own as well. "I'm…. starting to feel like I might be crazy," I muttered as I flipped through the book. Every other page was still blank. First going inside Televisions, then Personas and Shadows, now a book that magically fills in information about my friends?

If nothing else, I knew who must have given me this book now. Weird Fortune Lady, with her strange cards and all. But when did she give it to me? She wasn't really magic, was she? Then again, this book just filled itself in…

I slammed the book shut, "Okay. That's enough for one week. Maybe I'll try this again next week." After putting the book back in the shelf, and double checking that my saber was tucked under my bed, and got ready to sleep.

All there really was left to do now was wait for someone to go missing...

.

* * *

.

 _Welcome to the first of two chapters entirely about the Social Link system, yay~_

 _Also known as padding._

 _Fun little development fact, originally I was going to go with a different party member's SL (Social Link) for this chapter. But thanks to some confusion over Masahiro's whole "so is this a murder or a killing or what?" I decided to move Yu into this slot instead. Just to get the ball rolling on unraveling the big mystery of the first like 2/3rds of the story._

 _After all, Yu's social links with the party are usually about overcoming what their Shadow brought up anyway. Just in this case, the link flows both ways._

 _Because Masahiro doesn't have a Wild Card. I mentioned that back when I introduced Margaret originally. Now exactly how Social Links would work into the story has bounced through many iterations, in fact the original write of this chapter had Masahiro just having standard Social Links but relating to offensive ability VS specific arcana. That fell through when I realized there are no Shadows for a good half the arcana._

 _The idea of a book like Margaret's being used to record Social Links actually went back to the first moment I thought "What would Masahiro's Arcade Mode in Arena be like?" Originally I wanted her to give Masahiro the book after the end of the Persona 4 storyline; probably on the day she kisses Yu. I wound up deciding to modify the Book's role in the story and making it a major piece in the mystery literally while writing this chapter out. I think it works fairly well, and raises more questions about what "M" sees in Masahiro. Or perhaps Saw? #Cryptic_

 _Anyway before I head out I do need to have a bit of real talk here. I cannot guarantee the date for the next chapter, at all. Work's upping me to 5 hours a night starting this week, which means one less hour in the evenings to work on Second Chances. Since I'm mostly writing chapters from scratch now, I don't know how long creating and revising Scent 13 will take. Heck, I had a time and a half getting this done on time._


	14. Butt Kicking and Girl Trouble

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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 **May 12, 2011**

 **After School**

The long nightmare of my life was finally over.

No, not the Case. There hadn't been any news in that since I joined the Team. I meant the first batch of exams this year. There would be more, but I would never again have to go through this in May.

Though the end of these exams only meant that my deadline to decide about attending a University was drawing closer. I didn't really want to think about making that choice, and thankfully I didn't have to today. Because as it would so happen, when I was heading out of the School, I was caught up to by Chie.

"Hey Masahiro!" she said happily after she caught up to me, "Where you headed?"

"I was just going to head home, honestly. I wanted to unwind now that testing is over," I shrugged and said. Chie looked a little dejected at that, "Oh yeah. The tests."

I knew that tone of voice, "Not good?"

She scowled, "Yosuke decided that we should get together to 'study,' and then he spent the whole time either asleep or talking about the case." Judging by the tone of her voice, she didn't get any studying done.

"So where was I during this meeting?" I asked, to try and push the subject away from Chie's studying habits. "I think it was back on Saturday, after school. You and Saki were on the hook working," Chie replied with, "It's for the best. Nobody came up with anything that hasn't already been suggested."

"Figures. I wonder when the next incident is going to happen. I'm ready to get started!" I exclaimed loudly as I punched the air in front of me, "Do you think this is a monthly sort of thing?"

"It's not really monthly when we had three people go missing in one month, is it?" Chie asked, before adding in, "But hey, I was just heading down to the Riverbank to do some training! Want to help me for a while?"

I thought about it for a bit as we walked. I knew for a fact that Chie was a martial arts kind of person, unlike my rusty skill with a sword. Though then again, being better at kicking something couldn't hurt. And besides, I hadn't had much time to hang out with Chie since Yukiko went missing.

So I nodded, "Yeah, I can hang out with you for a bit. I just need to be home before evening or my Father will flip his lid. Assuming he's home."

Chie was happy with this, and we kept walking together toward the Riverbank. "You ever run down the here?" Chie asked once we'd reached the floodplain. "Not really, no. I haven't done any running since I came to Inaba," I explained. "Well you should try it sometime, the floodplain is a great place to train. And you're going to need to do a lot of it to fight Shadows," Chie lectured me on as we arrived at a picnic area right by the river. The whole thing seemed like common knowledge to me, but perhaps I was just thinking differently from someone like Yukiko.

"This is the spot," Chie said after a moment to ditch her bag, "Yu and I practiced here before."

"Narukami-chan, huh?" I asked as I set my stuff down as well, "I guess even he needs to practice sometimes."

"Practice? He was practically schooling me. It was weird, but I felt so comfortable around him. I even started talking about my Shadow," Chie explained, excitedly at first, though slowing down in realization of something. "Hey," she then added, "You should go hang out with Yu, too. He's always looking for someone to hang out with after school."

"Already did, last week in fact," I replied with, "He wanted to talk to me about my own Shadow."

"Yeah…. That was a bit unexpected. I mean…" Chie said, as she quickly trailed off.

"It's fine," I responded with, "Yu thinks I'm innocent, so you can too."

That seemed to cheer her up, as she proceeded to direct me over to the picnic area, "Come on, Masahiro!"

"O-okay," I stammered out as I tried to mimic the stance she was in, "I've never really done anything quite like this."

After getting my butt kicked for a good hour, and I mean the kicked part literally, we finally stopped to rest. "You know, you don't have to just sit there and get beat on, Masahiro," Chie joked as we sat at a picnic table. "I'm not as good with using my legs are you are, Chie. Honestly I'm more a punching person," I replied as I faked a few boxing punches. I'd never actually tried boxing, but I'd watched a few boxing matches in my time at Gekkoukan. It helped that we had one of the best young boxers in Japan on our team.

"Yeah, keep talking," Chie spat back, "I still won today." And then she cracked one of the largest grins I'd ever seen from her. "Thanks for hanging out, by the way," she added in afterwards.

"It's good to do something different. Besides, you're a friend," I replied with, and that only enlarged Chie's grin.

I sighed to myself as the voice faded away along with the feeling, and looked over at Chie. She was gathering her things, "Well I need to start getting home, it's getting late."

"I should too, I wanted to practice a bit with my sword yet tonight. See you tomorrow, Chie!" I yelled to her as I started in the other direction.

* * *

 **May 13, 2011**

 **After School**

I hadn't seen Yosuke at school today, which was particularly sucky considering I wanted to ask him about this "study meeting" everyone apparently had last week.

All of that unfortunate luck changed when I was taking a break at work, though. There, at one of the tables, was Yosuke. I was quick to grab a chair with him. "We need to talk," I said in my most mock-serious voice possible.

"Huh?" Yosuke said quickly as he looked over at me, "Oh, it's just you. What's up?"

"What's this Chie was telling me about some study group you guys were having last week?"

"Oh yeah, she told you about that?" Yosuke asked entirely nonchalantly, "I just thought it would be a good time to get together and talk about the case. We would have invited you, but I figured you didn't want to burn your break just to talk about my theory."

"Of course I would be willing to, I'm…. Yosuke are you paying attention?" I asked, and sure enough Yosuke was staring right past me. Turning around, I was quickly able to identify the cause of his stare, Saki was passing by. "Hey that reminds me, you haven't tried to make a move on Saki since she was kidnapped," I mentioned, snapping Yosuke back to reality quickly.

"You weren't there to see her Shadow, Masahiro," Yosuke muttered darkly.

"What's so bad about Saki's Shadow….." I said as I trailed off, realizing I knew exactly what could be so bad about it, "Oh no. It didn't…."

"It did. Apparently I'm just a pain in the ass to Saki-senpai," Yosuke groaned, "Not that it matters I guess. According to my Shadow I was only interested in her to cure boredom."

"Yeah," I quickly replied, trying to keep Yosuke from getting too worked up over Saki's Shadow, "Well according to my Shadow, I'm a killer. Now do you really think I'm a killer, you're bored over everything, and Saki hates you? Look, I know she doesn't hate you. Was interested in someone else, yes. Hated you, no."

"Wait, you knew and you never told me?" Yosuke asked with a growing tone of anger. "You wouldn't have believed me anyway," I replied with, "Not without having seen her Shadow."

Yosuke just sat there for a moment before sighing in defeat, "You're right. Still, I can't believe she never told me."

"She didn't want to hurt your feelings. Her crush was a Senpai, your crush was a Senpai. Heck, I even used to have a crush on a Senpai of mine at Gekkoukan."

That one finally got Yosuke to smile again, "You? Like anyone? I didn't think that was possible." Now that he was smiling again, the mood was lightened massively, "I'll have you know I did. She was a year older than me and…. And…"

I trailed off. And what? She was a Second-year, we'd stayed in the same Dorm, and…. There was something important about her? Something I was… my head was starting to hurt, or maybe it was my eyes being squeezed shut.

"And what?" I heard Yosuke say finally. "N-nothing," I replied with as I opened my eyes, "She was just great was all…"

"Hey, Masahiro. I gotta get back to work. But thanks for taking the time to talk. Maybe I'm being hard on Saki-senpai," Yosuke said as he stood up. "It's no problem," I responded as I also got up, "Maybe you and Saki just need to start over. Now that you know each other a little better."

Yosuke just nodded, as he walked off and left me alone. As I was wandering back to the Electronics, I couldn't help but drift mentally back to my Senpai…..

Who even was she? And for that matter, how much do I really remember about Gekkoukan?

.

* * *

.

 _I dunno what it was. If it was just the fact I was trying to get 8 pages out of what are essentially a pair of 10 minute talks, or if maybe I just got too focused on what's coming next. But this chapter was a major pain to flesh out. Especially the part with Yosuke._

 _I knew I wanted to cover the whole bit with Saki, and that's gonna come up a lot with Yosuke's "social link." But figuring out the words for a lot of it was just a struggle. Pokken probably didn't help with that._

 _One nice thing about Masahiro not actually being strengthened by his Social Links is I'm free to ignore SLs that would just be filler. I'm also free to have as many steps to the SL as I feel are needed. Some people, like Yu and Yosuke, will have more steps to their SL. Others may only have two a'la the animation._

 _I'll have some Social Links interspersed in the disappearance parts of the story as well, probably as short one-off chapters posted along with a longer one. I know I'm doing at least two SLs before Kanji is rescued. Starting off Saki's and advancing with Yu's. Yu's SL is going to come fairly fast and reliably because I want to do all 10 steps, and I want the first half done by about the start of Summer Break._

 _Anyway, before I'm done, I'm going to try to tease this in the vaguest way possible. I'm working on another story. Slowly, but I am working on it. It's kinda right now a side project I do whenever I'm feeling good with my pace on Second Chances, or when I need a break from this story. So if I end up taking a week off on Second Chances, and I may if this writer's block starts to get too large, know I'm still working on something._

 _So now as I teased, and as a surprise to no one, coming up next we get back to the mystery part and away from the teenage life sim part. Some intrepid reporter is currently preparing a story about a High Schooler who beat up a whole Biker Gang!_


	15. The Fifth Victim

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

.

* * *

.

 **May 14, 2011**

 **Morning**

If I have ever suggested the news around Inaba is boring, let me take that back now. Apparently the news was now running some story about a first-year thug who took down a biker gang single handedly.

"That's that Tatsumi kid, isn't it?" My Father asked when he saw the story. "I take it he's no stranger to you?" I asked back from my breakfast.

"He's been in and out of the station a few times. He's just a first-year but he's got a record as long as your arm."

We had somebody like that at Gekkoukan, too. A loner, kept getting into fights, most of the students said he was probably spending the day drinking or something. He wound up biting off more than he could chew, I guess. Spent a few months in the hospital as a result. The same would probably happen to this Tatsumi kid.

"Still," my Father continued, "Ever since this story started airing, no one's complained about that gang. I wonder if they're too scared to show their face around town."

My Father was just about to walk out the door when he stopped, "Oh, Masahiro. Make sure you take an umbrella. It's supposed to start raining sometime this morning." And then he left for work.

Normally, I'd curse the rain and everything that came with it, but today it meant I'd finally have a chance to see the Midnight Channel. From what I'd heard, some juicy stuff showed up on there sometimes.

And kidnapping victims…. Kidnapping victims too.

* * *

 **May 14, 2011**

 **Midnight**

There's just something about being up at midnight, knowing you're on an important mission, that fills you with a sense of pride. Also exhaustion.

Everyone agreed that we should watch the Midnight Channel tonight, and we spread our cell numbers around in case something did appear.

Now all that remained was to watch my turned off TV at midnight. And right on schedule, there was the static-filled green glowing program; the Midnight Channel.

The entire thing looked like one big blur, yet as I leaned in closer I did notice the outline of a figure. Male, pretty tall, with what looked like a jacket thrown over his shoulders. It wasn't much to go off, but I made sure to jot down a few notes in a notepad, just in case I saw something nobody else had.

And then, quickly as it appeared, the image faded away into a black screen again….

And my cell phone rang. I answered it quickly, realizing I probably should have turned it to vibrate before watching the Midnight Channel.

"You saw that, right?" The Voice from the other end, Chie's voice, asked.

"I saw it, a guy right?"

"A guy? You have better eyes than me. Oh,, I called because Yosuke said he wanted to meet up tomorrow at Junes. It's a Sunday so nobody'll be working."

"Because Yosuke wanted to meet up? I thought you called just to talk to me once more today," I responded jokingly. Of course, Chie didn't take it as much of a joke, "Watch it, Masahiro-senpai. I already kicked your butt once this month."

"You're so cold sometimes, Chie," I joked one more time before hanging up. I had to get some sleep either way. But it was great to finally have a chance to be in action.

* * *

 **May 15, 2011**

 **Noon**

We'd all gathered at Junes, as Yosuke wanted us to. And like the leader he was at least pretending to be, he was trying to call us to order.

"We'll now convene this meeting on the investigation into the serial kidnapping-slash-murder case here in Inaba," he said on a single breath, impressive.

"Dude, take a breath," Chie muttered. "We need to workshop a better name for this," I added in.

"So I guess that makes this place our special headquarters, then," Yukiko said, "That sounds exciting."

Chie and I both nodded in agreement, while Yosuke replied with "That's right, Yukiko."

Yu finally interrupted our talk of headquarters and names, "Maybe we should be moving on."

"Y-yeah," Yosuke finally said, "Anyway, about what was on last night. Did anyone have any idea who that was?"

"All I could tell was it looked like a guy," Yu said first, and everyone nodded. "There was too much static to see anything," Chie lamented. "I dunno, I saw plenty," I added, "Male, looked to be pretty tall-"

"Tall? How do you know that?" Yukiko asked, looking at me quizzically

"Just the way he was standing. You could tell his legs and arms were bent out from his body. More specifically, he was bending over himself. Why would he do that unless the TV was a tight fit?"

"Masahiro, you were in the TV. You know it's not like that," Yosuke sighed. "Either way," Yu said, "We know this guy doesn't have the best posture."

You know, it's hard to know if Yu is in sarcasm mode or not considering he says just about everything the same way.

"I feel like I've seen him somewhere before," Saki finally said after staying quiet the whole time.

"Now that you mention it, I feel the same way," Yukiko said with a nod, and Yu joined in on the nod.

"So a bad posture guy with ties to the murder case…. That might have narrowed the list of potential victims to zero," I sighed.

"There has to be someone," Saki reassured me from two seats away, "We just don't know how they're related to the murder yet."

"Well if we want to figure out who it is, we're going to have to watch the Midnight Channel again tonight," Yosuke said seriously, "As long as the image doesn't change, we know this guy's still on our side."

"That's right. When I was kidnapped my image on the Midnight Channel changed, right?" Yukiko asked. It was easy to forget I wasn't the only new person here, but yeah, Yukiko was rescued a few days before I was.

"Yeah," Yosuke said with a nod, "The screen got clear and the program looked like some low-budget TV show. Come to think of it, maybe Teddie was right. Maybe we were seeing the other Yukiko from that world."

"Hey," I butted in with, "Did mine look the same way?"

"Thanks to you getting kidnapped at Junes, we never needed to check the Midnight Channel to see if you were in there," Yosuke replied, "Actually, the only program we've seen get clear like that was Yukiko's."

"So if we saw static last night… that means whoever's on the Midnight Channel isn't in the TV yet, right?" Yukiko asked, dragging us back on the subject at hand.

"Seems so," Yu said simply, "Which means he's probably safe for now."

"Yeah, that seems safe to assume," Saki mentioned, getting nods from Yukiko and the rest of us, "So we watch the Midnight Channel again tonight, and try to figure out who this guy is."

"Then if we can figure out who he is, we can stop him from being taken," Yukiko added in, which got all of us smiling ear to ear.

"Yeah, and if all goes well we can catch the killer in the process," Yosuke said. Now this felt like a plan we could work with.

Just then, the sound of Chie clearing her throat cut the excited silence we'd fallen into after Yosuke said we might catch the killer that easily, "Well, if that means my deductions are correct…"

I immediately got that feeling in my stomach that something ridiculous was going to happen.

"Though the image was hard to make out, and we can't say for sure who it was, it was definitely a young male. Since we cannot identify the person at this time, we have no choice but to wait and see what happens."

"That's exactly what we just said," Yosuke whined. "Solid synopsis of the meeting, though. Chie just condensed what, an hour of us talking into two sentences," I added, mostly to avoid any potential repercussions from the girl on my left.

"Shut up!" Chie yelled as she kicked Yosuke from her seat.

Bad move calling Chie out when you're within striking distance. And with that, Yukiko started laughing to herself again.

"Not again…" Chie sighed after Yukiko started talking about her funny bone. Which by the way does not work like that.

"To think this is how Yukiko really is, huh… who would have thought," Yosuke mentioned as we all watched Yukiko continue to laugh.

We all waited for Yukiko to finally calm down before we finally parted ways to go home and watch the Midnight Channel.

* * *

 **May 16, 2011**

 **After School**

Static was static was static as far as I cared. I watched the Midnight channel like we agreed to, but I still only saw a hunched over guy and static. But apparently everyone else was able to pin him as Kanji Tatsumi.

You know, the guy who was gonna get himself in trouble someday? I guess trouble's found him, or is trying to.

And that's why I'm back in Class 2-2. Because now that we know who this guy is, we need a course of action to protect him.

"Boy, never wanted to be back in this classroom," I joked as I walked in with Saki trailing just behind me.

"What's the matter, you don't want to remember your fond memories of your first days in Inaba?" The voice of Yosuke called out. Everyone was gathered around the middle of the room, Yu and Chie's desks by the look of things.

"I put the fond ones at home," I deadpanned, "So what do we do about Kanji?"

"Well talking's out of the question," Saki mentioned from behind me, "I doubt he'd believe us." Even though I knew she was there, I practically jumped aside to give her room to stand.

"Besides believing us, Kanji's scary," Chie added in, "Did you guys see the news special the other day?"

We all nodded, not that it was hard to miss considering how long everything about Inaba lasts on the news these days. You'd almost think the media was trying to implicate Kanji in the murder.

"You mean the special on Biker Gangs? Yeah... " Yukiko sighed, "He wasn't like that when he was younger."

"You know him, Yukiko" Chie asked with legit surprise. I figured she would have known everyone Yukiko knows.

"Uh-huh," Yukiko replied with a nod, leaning on the chair behind her somewhat, "But we haven't talked to each other in a long time."

"He changed a few years ago," Saki butted in with, "He started picking fights with bullies at school and I guess it just snowballed from there."

"That's right, you would have known Kanji-kun, Saki-senpai," Yukiko said with a hint of surprise, "His family owns the Textile Shop just down the road from you."

Yu, who until now had stayed quiet as usual, finally spoke, "Saki-senpai, can we see the Textile Shop from your family's store?"

"You really don't want to watch the Textile Shop from there," Saki mumbled and shook her head.

"You don't," Yosuke also muttered.

There was a lengthy pause before Yukiko spoke up, "I know, why don't we go to the Textile Shop now. At least we can see if Kanji's still safe."

"Sounds good. And if we see Kanji we can ask him if anything strange has happened recently," Chie said as she stood up. Yu following her lead, "It can't hurt as a starting point."

* * *

 **May 16, 2011**

 **About 30 minutes later.**

I've never seen so many rolls of cloth in one place. I guess that's what you'd expect from a Textile Shop.

There was an older woman sitting in the middle of the room, talking to a young… man?

"Hello," Yukiko said as our entire group entered the store. With all six of us, the store was starting to feel a little cramped.

"Ah, Yuki-chan. It's so nice to see you," the older woman said, looking at the group.

"Well then, if you'll excuse me, Ma'am," the young man said. Smooth voice, nice tone. He could make a good movie star someday.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't help more," the woman said somberly.

"It's all right: you've given me plenty to think about. Thank you," the young man said as he spun around and noticed our group for the first time.

And we got a chance to see him. Blue hair, that was something I hadn't seen before, checkered pants, fancy blue and gold coat, and a ribbon tie. Oh, and a blue hat. The amount of blue was pretty weird, it had to be some sort of uniform.

With just a nod, he continued walking. Not that it stopped me from watching him as he left.

"Masahiro-senpai, hey!" I heard Yosuke call out to me, "Why are you staring at the door?"

"Huh? Oh…. that guy," I muttered.

"Yeah, what a weirdo," Yosuke casually replied. "Did you recognize that uniform?" I asked, since I didn't know any schools that had a coat like that in their uniform.

"Never, you think he's from out of town?" Yosuke asked as he turned around. Yukiko was talking to the woman again.

"Yeah, and it's suspicious that he came here. Most guys wouldn't give this store a second look," I whispered back to Yosuke as I listened in on Yukiko's discussion. She was asking about how Kanji was doing, using the Television story as coverage.

Yosuke and Chie, meanwhile, had started looking at some of the rolls of cloth. "Hey, this scarf… I've seen this somewhere before," Chie said to herself as she was looking at the cloth behind the shopkeeper…. apparently Kanji's mother, if Yukiko is to be believed.

But while Yu, Yukiko, and Saki were talking to Kanji's mother, Yosuke and I went to look at the scarf Chie found. "Hm? Oh, you're right. Where was that…" Yosuke murmured.

"Wanna fill me in on what you're talking about," I asked the two of them. The scarf in question was an off-red colored one, with your standard white flowers on it. Nothing that special, so I thought.

"Oh! It was that place!" Chie exclaimed, as everyone looked over at her, "The place in the TV!"

"You mean on TV," I tried to add in to cover for Chie. After all, there was someone here who had no idea that there was an inside to the TV.

But I was buried by Yosuke saying "That's right! The room with all the faceless posters."

"Then it's that announcer's…" Yu mutters.

"Are you acquaintances of Ms. Yamano?" Kanji's mother asked us.

"Kinda…" Yosuke awkwardly said.

"You could say that," Yu also said.

Everyone else just awkwardly glanced around.

"Did Miss Yamano happen to have a scarf like this?" Yosuke finally asked after the awkward moment had passed.

"It was a special order," Kanji's mother explained, "She actually ordered a pair, but in the end she only needed the women's scarf. It left us with no choice but to sell this one separately."

"So this was a male's scarf?" Saki asked as she looked over the scarf.

"Yes, I suppose it has to do with everything that was on the news just before Miss Yamano came to Inaba," Kanji's mother explained.

"That would make sense," I said, "Try to get back in somebody's good graces."

"It also gives us a connection," Chie said. Entirely cryptic to anyone not in the group, but considering why we were there, it made perfect sense.

We found Kanji's connection to the murder of Miss Yamano.

Just then, our train of thought was interrupted by a doorbell and a voice, "Hello! Delivery here!"

"Oh, I'll be there there!" Kanji's mother called back before turning back to us, "I'm sorry, you'll have to excuse me.

"I'll come again, Ma'am," Yukiko politely said. "Is that so? Well then please say hello to your mother for me," Kanji's mother said before standing up and leaving.

As soon as she was gone, we all breathed a sigh of…. Not quite relief. "So it really is related to the first case, then," Yosuke said somberly, it was on all our minds after all.

"In a pretty stupid way, but yeah," I said, "Saki found Ms. Yamano's body, she stayed at Yukiko's inn, and shopped at Kanji's Textile Shop-"

"It's just a scarf, and Kanji didn't even make it. Why would the killer go after him?" Yosuke asked, cutting me off.

"Murder begets more murder," Saki said, "He's going after anyone who might have known Miss Yamano now, too."

"We can talk outside," Yu said, "We said we were going."

But rather than find a chance to talk, we found…. Well, as Yukiko put it, "It's Kanji-kun."

He was talking to that guy from in the Textile Shop, so we did the only thing we could do.

We hid, and tried to listen in on the conversation. They apparently were setting up something after school tomorrow, and Kanji seemed incredibly uncomfortable with the situation.

As much as I didn't want to say it, that blue kid was starting to look mighty suspicious. Kanji didn't keep walking, and seemed to murmur to himself for a time before he turned around and looked right at us.

"Hey!" He yelled with a voice of fury, "What the hell are you pricks looking at!?"

"Run," I could just hear Yu say before the entire mass that was our group began to run toward the Shrine. Maybe Kanji wasn't even chasing us, but his voice was reason enough to get the hell out of dodge.

"Yeah, it's Kanji that was on the Midnight Channel," I sputtered out through gasping for air. "Man, you look almost dead," Chie said to me. I was the only one beat after that short of a run.

"When the pack moves, you move with it," I responded, "I'll be fine. Just… talk amongst yourselves."

Taking that as his cue to finally speak his mind, Yosuke started talking again, "I realized something back when we were leaving the shop. Kanji doesn't fit the common points in these attempted murders, but his mother does."

"So the Killer's going after Kanji to quiet his Mother?" Yu asked.

"Well this is all just speculation, anyway," Yosuke added.

"It would match up with my case," Yukiko said, "My mother is the one who had all the interaction with Miss Yamano."

"So does that mean it'll be the kid again instead of the mother?" Chie asked, "But in that case the Killer's Motive makes no sense. What does that have to do with silencing witnesses or revenge?"

"It'd mean he's a nutcase and a freak, which killing people with TVs probably requires," I said, having caught my breath by now.

"Maybe we're on the wrong track entirely," Yosuke said dejectedly, "Maybe none of this has to do with Revenge. What if it has to do with somebody wanting to buy the Textile Shop?"

We all just shook our heads. In part because Yosuke's idea was ridiculous, and in part because we very well could be on the wrong path with this.

"Either way, we know Kanji's the next victim," Yu reminded us.

"You're right. Hey, wasn't Kanji making plans with that kid earlier?" Yosuke was right, that was when we'd just left the Textile Shop.

"But he hasn't been to school once since the new year started," Chie added, also true.

"Then this is all sounding suspicious," Saki said, exactly what was on my mind.

"If that kid's somehow part of this plot, that could mean they're going to strike tomorrow," I said, starting to get excited.

"We should watch Kanji then, tomorrow. Maybe his house and Junes as well," Yosuke said. Finally, a plan was coming together!

"The killer isn't using Junes, outside of Masahiro's case," Saki brought up, "We should watch Kanji, and the Shopping District. No matter if the Killer's going to strike tomorrow, Kanji will be walking home."

"So the stakeout is set for tomorrow!" Chie excitedly exclaimed.

"That's Stake with an -ake, not -eak," I joked, earning myself a swift kick to the gut. "Catching breath again…" I gasped out as I crumpled to the ground.

"Tailing people like an actual detective, it's giving me goosebumps," Chie continued like nothing had happened.

And so, after exchanging numbers, we all went our separate ways. Agreeing to meet up after school tomorrow for the stakeout. There was no way the Killer was outsmarting all of us.

.

* * *

.

 _I'd like to point out this somehow turned into just over 10 pages of shenanigans. I'd also like to point out this was basically done over the course of three days. The day after I posted last chapter, and the last two days._

 _Now I fully expected to lose time to The Day We Celebrate The P3 Protagonist's Persona, AKA Easter. What I did not expect, was that math itself would conspire against me. Quoting myself off Twitter, there must be some mathematical formula to explain how every time I come into contact with Madoka, I lose an obscene amount of time that I could spend working on Second Chances. I discovered there was a PSP Madoka game, with a in progress english translation, and lost an entire week to "I just don't feel like writing Persona."_

 _To which, the writing in this chapter may seem to take a bit of a quality jump around the quarter mark. That comes when I start following the plot of the game closely. And each time I do it I like to think I get better at writing when not following the game. It's a flow, and it's a flow I've never really had to master when I can just slam text boxes together and call it "The Voices."_

 _Anyway I had a ton of fun with reviews after the last chapter. Someone really shattered the mould with their suggestion about what Masahiro's past could be hiding. Also apologize to the one person who didn't get a reply from me for like a month on their review, I honestly never noticed it since I rely on the handy email I get when reviews are posted to know when there's a new one._

 _Anyway something about steak is next, mmmm steak. Those of you who saw the anime know how stupid the next chapter is going to be._

 _PS, While I was finishing up revisions I was listening to some Imagine Dragons. I'll just say now that Second Chances the fanfic is NOT inspired by or based on Second Chances the song._

 _PSS, Fifth Victim. The prior four were: Yamano, Saki, Yukiko, Masahiro._


	16. The Steak-Out

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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* * *

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 **May 17, 2011**

 **After School**

We were lurking outside of the gates. Yes, all of us. Mostly we were trying to look natural, but Yosuke was quite clearly watching everyone as they left.

Though Chie looked the most nervous of any of us. "Has the target arrived at school?" She asked worriedly, even though we'd been there maybe ten minutes.

"Yes Ma'am, visual ID confirmed," Yosuke said, playing up the secret spying vibe that was going on here. Then again, Yosuke and Chie were basically the source of that vibe. "Target arrived in-zone near the end of his mess break, with mother-issued rations in hand. Current Status: In the bathroom, fixing his hair," Yosuke continued, not dropping the verbiage.

"Fixing his hair? Yosuke were you sure you saw him?" I whispered over from the other side of the gate.

"Positive. The target was acting nervous. I left my position before he had a chance to pick on me," Yosuke replied, entirely straight faced. Not sure if he ignored me, or just didn't want to drop his Kayfabe.

"I wonder what kind of plans they made," Yukiko mused, "It didn't seem like he knew that boy very well."

We were all quiet for a moment, before Chie finally spoke up. "Well… I think there's something more subtle going o-"

There was the sound of footsteps, and Yosuke turned around to see who it was. His widened eyes told us everything, and we all stayed quiet.

And tried to act natural, which mostly meant looking like we were waiting for somebody else.

After a moment, Kanji came into view. Stopping just past us, and looking around. Never at us, thankfully, rather he seemed to be looking for someone. For that boy.

He arrived not long later, the slope of the road only making him look shorter in comparison to Kanji.

"I didn't keep you waiting, I hope," the boy said, entirely formally. He looked much the same as he did at the textile shop, that had to be a uniform he was wearing.

"No, I-I just got here too," Kanji stammered through, starting to grow red. Maybe Chie was onto something before.

And with those introductions exchanged, the two of them turned around and walked off. Though that boy took a moment to take stock of all of us. Did he knew we were listening to them?

"What in the world was that," Yosuke asked with a sigh.

"I think he was watching us," I said in the silence after Yosuke spoke.

"Watching us?" Yu asked.

"Well we weren't hiding very well when you consider it was all six of us standing right behind them."

"We should follow after them," Chie cut in with, "Before we lose them."

"O-okay, then we'll split up into groups," Yosuke stammered through, "One team will follow Kanji, the other will watch the Shopping District."

"R-roger that! How will we split the teams?" Chie asked, as we all looked at Yu.

"Me?" He asked, "Well then…. Yukiko and I will watch the Shopping District."

"Saki and I will help," I added, if only to avoid being stuck with Yosuke "Target Was Sighted' Hanamura or Chie "Roger" Satonaka.

"So that means me with Yosuke then, I can handle that," Chie said before looking down the path, "Hey! They're almost gone! Come on, Yosuke!"

"Alright then, we need to look natural. We'll pretend we're on a date," Yosuke said, fully in his girl hunting mode.

"Not in a million years!" Chie shot back, "If we stay out of sight we won't need to. Let's just hurry up and go."

"I wonder if they'll be alright," Yukiko quietly asked ask the two of them walked away.

"Nope!" I quickly replied, "So me and Saki will take the northern end, since the liquor store is there. You two take the southern end?"

"The store...," Saki muttered.

"Well we should get going, too. Before they beat us to the Textile Shop," Yu finally said, as the remains of our group scattered.

* * *

 **May 17, 2011**

 **About 15 Minutes Later**

We were waiting outside Konishi Liquors, Yu and Yukiko were hanging out on the steps to the Shrine. We could just barely see them through the foliage, they were talking about something.

"I wonder what they're talking about," I mused as I watched Yu and Yukiko move a little further up the steps.

"Probably trying to look natural, which we don't," Saki replied, and she was right, we basically were standing awkwardly at the corner of the store watching the Textile Shop every now and again.

"Well….. Huh, I guess we never do hang out here. It is probably too adult of a place for us," I laughed, but Saki continued to look seriously at me.

"Masahiro, there's a reason we don't hang out here ever."

"Well yeah, but… wait there is?" I asked. It had never really been that big of a deal to me, but now that Saki said there was a reason I wanted to know what it was.

"You know how since Junes opened shops around the Shopping District have been closing?"

"Well yeah, apparently some folks got really angry about Junes because of that."

"That would be my father," Saki sighed, "He freaked out when he found out that I was working there. But that's him, way too short a fuse. But he's really all talk."

"You seem scared of him for someone that is all talk," I replied, leaning back against the wall.

"Just because he talks a lot doesn't mean I can't avoid him," Saki replied, looking away down at the shrine, "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

But Saki was having none of that, immediately trying to change the subject, "I wonder how Yosuke and Chie are doing."

"Probably still alive at least," I sighed, really wanting to ask more about Saki's family. Though maybe I could still finagle some information out of her, "So that was why you thought all those things about Yosuke?"

"Huh? Oh…" Saki muttered, "He told you about that, then?"

"Just that apparently your Shadow was the one to tell him that you weren't interested."

"Yeah. And told me how I hate Inaba," Saki said with a down tone, looking around to avoid looking at me.

"You hate Inaba?" I asked, actually surprised by this. In all the time I'd known Saki, she'd never let on that she remotely disliked Inaba.

"Parts of it," she replied, "Thanks to everything that's happened with Junes."

I was quiet, assuming that Saki would continue. And I wasn't wrong, she kept right on talking, "I don't want to just be the Konishi kid, who betrayed her family to work at Junes. I want out of here as soon as I can, my Brother is the better child anyway."

"Thus your Senpai?" I asked.

"What?" Saki asked abruptly, before taking a moment to process what I said, "Yeah… I wanted a way out, and I thought maybe he could give me an easy way out."

"Sounds like things didn't work out with him?" I asked, the way she was talking made that seem pretty clear. They probably had drifted apart with time, like me and just about every contact I had in Iwatodai.

However, before Saki could reply, about the closest thing to a cloud of dust I'd ever seen went running past.

"I think they found trouble," I replied as the speeding form of Kanji Tatsumi also ran past. He really didn't pay us any notice, so I guess our "normal" act worked! Or he was just too busy chasing whoever was ahead of him, probably Yosuke and Chie.

"Should we follow them?" Saki asked as she watched everyone round the nearby corner and keep running.

"Nah," I replied, "Kanji isn't a perpetual motion machine, right? He'll tire out eventually, and then we can meet up with the rest of the group."

Saki smiled at that, "We should probably not keep hanging around here, in case Kanji comes back this way."

I nodded in agreement and we both started walking south through the shopping district. "Wanna stop at Aiya's for a bit?" I asked as we passed the restaurant.

* * *

 **May 17, 2011**

 **About 30 minutes later.**

It was a good thing we did stop at Aiya's, or we never would have found out where the rest of the group had ended up at.

Apparently Chie had the brilliant idea to test out Aiya's "We'll Deliver Anywhere" promise, while being chased down by Kanji. I have to admit, I didn't think even she would have the guts to do something like that.

Either way, we found the rest of the group hiding out in a tunnel, Chie still eating whatever it was she had ordered. It smelled good.

"Where the hell were you two?" Yosuke gasped as he leaned against the wall.

"We figured you'd be busy, so we stopped at Aiya's," Saki said with a grin.

"You know you two," I said looking at Yu and Yukiko, "Didn't need to be involved in that."

"At least we know where Kanji was," Yu justified through his own panting.

"Until he stopped chasing you guys, anyway," I said, "But I guess that blue kid didn't follow him this whole way, so odds are Kanji's safe for now."

While we were talking about Kanji, Yukiko had apparently asked Chie how her food was. Because she responded with a stretched out, "It's sooo good!"

We all laughed a bit at that one.

"So what do we do next?" Yosuke asked, "Kanji's probably home by now."

"It's supposed to rain later tonight," Saki said, "The best thing we can do is just watch the Midnight Channel again and hope nothing changed."

"It's best if we don't look like we're stalking Kanji, we should just watch the Midnight Channel," Yu finally decided.

We were all just about ready to depart when Chie decided to ask us where to leave her bowls.

We had no idea.

* * *

 **May 18, 2011**

 **Midnight**

I was just getting settled into a quiet evening of homework and watching the Midnight Channel when I got a text.

It just said one word, but that one word was all I needed.

"Missing."

Sure, this is a punk who probably could be out beating up another gang, but considering everything that happened today with him, it didn't sound good if he wasn't at home. I was intending to watch the Midnight Channel anyway, but this guaranteed that I would.

So when Midnight came around, and when I could hear the rain on my window, I looked into the television screen as usual.

I'd rather not say what I saw, but for the sake of completeness I'll explain.

The static was gone for one thing. And there was definitely Kanji there, well…. It looked like him anyway

From my own experience, which was limited as to how Kanji behaves, that was probably his Shadow.

Unless the Midnight Channel is some hidden camera show and Kanji was at a bathhouse in Inaba wearing a towel and pretending to talk sexy. Which all things considered isn't the strangest coincidence I've ever thought of.

His show was apparently "Bab, Bad Bathhouse," which basically gave away the entire plot. And guaranteed if my Father walked in on this I'd be getting a stern talking to. The Kanji on screen was apparently doing a "scandalously special sneak-in report" and talking about how he wouldn't know what might happen to him in there.

The broadcast ended with him…. Well prancing might be the best way to describe it, into the Bathhouse behind him.

And then the program faded into black again.

I just stared at the blank TV for a moment, before finally saying to myself, "Well…. That's a thing that I just saw." I might have stared at my TV the entire night had my phone not started ringing.

It was Chie.

"Aww man, I can't believe it!" she ranted from the other end, "If it hadn't been for our stupid stake-out Kanji probably wouldn't have gotten kidnapped! And what the hell was that show he put on?"

"Chie, Chie calm down," I tried to tell her, "This is the same as every other time for you guys, right?"

"Yeah, but-" Chie tried to say before I cut her off.

"Then that means all we have to do is the same thing you've always done. No one's died since you guys started going into the TV, and no one's going to die this time either."

I could hear a sigh from the other end, "You're right. Yosuke wants us to meet at Junes tomorrow after school. Looks like it's finally time for you and Yukiko to head back inside the TV."

"I'm looking forward to it," I said before I hung up. It was finally go time, finally time to use this Persona I'd gotten to do some good.

I couldn't help but feel like this was how it's supposed to be, me helping save people like this.

.

* * *

.

 _*scrolls back over the story*_

 _Huh, that was a decent split between the segments._

 _So obviously I wasn't going to write a P4 story without using the chase scene from the anime. Despite how blatantly stupid and poorly animated I think that whole scene is. It just gave me a chance to open up a can of deadpan on the world for a moment._

 _So for those keeping score at home, we now have Saki's Social Link opened up. Bringing us to…. Let me do the math here… four Social Links active. Out of…. Well if I told you how many I'd be spoiling something._

 _Anyway next chapter we get back to the TV World, and I get to choreograph fights in my bedroom at 1 in the morning. True story, I actually acted out the entire fight between Yu and Shadow Saki. I think a two week dev time is going to be pretty average moving forward. Though I was like a day late on this one because sale setting is my least favorite work activity._

 _Also I've got some exciting world building going on in the background as I flesh out some of Masahiro's teachers, classmates, and even the entire notion of redacted's redacted._

 _:p_


	17. The Steamy Bathhouse

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

.

* * *

.

 **May 18, 2011**

 **TV World**

It was nice to see Teddie anyway, even if the circumstances were as they were.

Apparently the bear's got a bloodhound's nose for humans inside the TV, it's how the group found Yukiko and I in our little personal hells. Weirdly enough, it wasn't how they found Saki though…

We'd all gone to Junes after school, weapons stashed in our schoolbags. Thank goodness the school isn't checking bags yet or we'd be toast. We'd gone through a specific TV, and now we were talking with Teddie on a platform emblazoned with a bullseye.

"Teddie," Yu was the first to say, "There's someone in here, isn't there?"

It was only then that Teddie turned around to look at us, he seemed kinda sad. He didn't even speak with the same excitedly fearful tone he had when I'd last seen him. "Oh…" he, I'm just going to go with he, said quietly, "Yep. I think someone's here."

The emphasis on "Think" didn't sound good.

"You think!?" Chie asked exasperatedly, "Do you know where he is at least?"

"I dunno," Teddie simply said, his expression unchanging.

"We think it's a boy named Kanji," Yukiko said after a brief moment, probably for the best lest Chie blow up at the poor bear.

But Teddie's expression and response stayed the same, "I dunno…"

"What's the matter, Teddie?" Saki asked, and Chie quickly continued, "Yeah, you sick or something?"

"Maybe the fog is making him sick like it did the rest of us," I mused. How the heck did they go about finding people in this fog anyway?

"Well, I sniff and I sniff. But I still can't tell where the smell's coming from," Teddie finally explained to us.

"Well, why not?" Yosuke asked, it being his turn now to get a little annoyed.

"I can only imagine it's bearcause I've got so much on my mind," Teddie said, starting to sound less sad and more scared of all the people getting mad at him, "Like where do I come from? Who am I? These questions are tearing me apart inside!"

"Weird, since your insides are filled with nothing but air," Yosuke said coldly, "Your head's empty to begin with. Don't stress out over stuff too much."

"You're right…" Teddie said with a sigh, turning around and staring off into the fog again.

"Wow, he's seriously down about this," Chie said to our group after Teddie had turned around.

"Hey, let me try," I said, walking over by Teddie, "Hey, Teddie."

"Yeah…?" he finally said, not even looking at me.

"I kinda know how you feel," I said, "I've got plenty of questions on my mind too. But hey, we have something important to do now. There's a guy in here, and he's probably….. Confused… yeah probably just confused. And if we don't help him, he's going to die. There'll be time to figure out who you are, just after we save Kanji."

"Yeah," I heard Yosuke say behind me, "If you can't figure out where Kanji is, we're in deep trouble. We can't just wander around aimlessly in here and expect to find someone again."

Teddie stayed quiet for a moment, before turning around, "I know what might help! You should give me a clue about this Kanji person! It's just a feeling I have, but I think I could concentrate better with it. Do you have anything that could give me a good understanding of him?"

His pep was starting to come back, but I couldn't help but worry this was all just a facade.

"Something about Kanji, huh?" Yosuke murmured, "I can't really think of anything besides all the rumors about him."

Most of the group shook our heads in agreement with Yosuke. "Only thing I know is he's a punk, and acted really strange around that guy," I said with a shrug.

"It's not like we know him that well," Chie added in.

"I just need some sort of hint," Teddie explained, "Something that tells me what he's really like."

"Why don't we ask around?" Yukiko proposed, "We might be able to find people who know Kanji-kun personally."

We nodded in agreement, it was basically all we had right now. "We'll be back when we find something, so don't go anywhere," Yu told Teddie, before we departed back to Junes.

* * *

 **May 18, 2011**

 **After School**

We decided that it'd be more efficient if we all split up after we got back from seeing Teddie. Not that I'm against it or anything, it was actually incredibly smart. But… how'd I get stuck at Junes? I mean I work here and all, but Yosuke pulled strings with his Dad to get me and Saki off the last two days now, and now I show up at Junes asking people shopping about Kanji Tatsumi?

It was maybe an hour into asking Housewives and Classmates about Kanji when I saw a…. Somewhat familiar face show up in the lobby. His coat gave him away moreso than his hat, it was that boy who'd been following Kanji around at the same time we were…. Just more openly.

"So, our paths cross again," He said as he walked up to me, "You're from the Textile Shop, aren't you? What are you doing alone in the lobby of a department store?"

I was more surprised he remembered me from the Textile Shop than I was surprised by his direct questioning of my intentions, "Well I'm-"

The boy held up his hand, and started to talk himself, "Don't bother, I can tell you're here looking for information about Kanji Tatsumi."

"Yeah," I said surprised, "But… how did you know?"

"Some of your friends were following us," he replied, obviously meaning Chie and Yosuke, "I don't know what your relation to Kanji is, but I suppose telling you what happened isn't too dangerous. When we met up all I did was say hi and ask him what he was up to lately. That was when he found your friends, and I haven't seen him since."

"So you just asked him how he was doing? I mean that seems like a long time just to ask one question," I replied, knowing full well how long it took before Kanji came running down the Shopping District.

"Well there was one other thing. He was acting strangely that day, nothing like what I'd been told he was like. The more we were talking the worse it got, so I decided to call him out on it. I told him he was an odd person. After I said that, his expression changed and all the color drained from his face."

"Acting weird, huh? Then again, Yosuke…. One of my friends… mentioned something about Kanji doing his hair in the bathroom…"

"I believe his behavior that day was forced and unnatural. What you said seems to confirm that view. Maybe he has some sort of complex, though I have no proof of that."

"A complex?" I asked, as an elevator opened nearby and the boy started to move toward it.

"I trust you understand what that means," he said as he got in the elevator.

"I know what it means, but what kind of complex could Kanji have?" I tried to ask as the elevator doors closed and I was left alone.

"What is it with people leaving before I can ask them a question," I muttered with a sigh as I saw Yu enter the lobby.

"Find anything?" I asked him once he'd noticed me over by the elevators.

"Nothing much, you?" he asked.

"I found that kid again, the one in blue. He said something about Kanji having a complex," I replied, "I didn't get an answer about what kind."

"A complex?" Yu said… "Maybe we should get the rest of the team together and pay another visit to the Textile Shop."

"You want to ask Kanji's mother about this?" I asked as I began walking toward the doors.

"If anyone would know about what Kanji's really like, it'd be her," Yu simply said as he started running toward the shopping district.

* * *

 **May 18, 2011**

 **About 15 Minutes Later**

"I'm sorry," Kanji's mother was apologizing to us over Kanji being not home. I mean, we knew he was in the TV, but we had to start somewhere with her, and posing as Kanji's friends was a good enough spot to start at.

"I told the police about it," she continued to explain, "I'm concerned because it's been so dangerous lately."

"I understand why you're worried," Yukiko said. I guess to calm her down or something, she honestly didn't seem that worried to me. Then again, maybe she was the one worried, not Kanji's mother.

"He always leaves without saying a word, but it's the first time he hasn't been home," his Mother went on to explain. It seemed a little strange to me that Kanji always came home before now, especially considering his episode with that Biker Gang clearly was taking place at night. Did he beat them all up and then go home to his Mother the same night?

Thankfully, I wasn't the only one apparently thinking that. Since Chie mentioned, "That's surprising. I thought he'd be out all night fighting," earning herself a "Watch it!" from Yosuke.

Despite all that, though, Kanji's mother was… laughing? "It's okay," she said, "I'll admit he can be a little rough. A while ago he got into a fight with some biker kids."

"Yeah," Yosuke interrupted her with, "He took on that entire gang by himself and destroyed 'em."

And suddenly the tone of the room changed, Kanji's mother just looked down at the floor as she continued, "But that was partially my fault. I hadn't slept for days because of their loud bikes. That made him angry... "

"So he beat up an entire biker gang just so his mother could sleep?" Yu asked, more out of disbelief than misunderstanding. "Talk about one aggressively devoted son," Yosuke replied with a hint of concern.

Then again, that aggressive part was somewhat concerning. I mean, who knows what kind of secrets someone like that was hiding…..

Oh wait, we were starting to know.

"So he's devoted to his mother, what's that got to do with a complex?" I grumbled.

"Well I don't know about you, but I never would have expected to hear Kanji did all that to help his mother," Chie added.

And then we were all silent for a moment, thinking over what we knew.

It might just have been enough to find Kanji! So we said our quick goodbyes and returned to Junes, and made a beeline for the TVs and Teddie!

* * *

 **May 18, 2011**

 **TV World**

"A Com-what?" Teddie asked as we tried to explain what we found out about Kanji

"A complex," I tried to explain, "You know, it's… um…. Like a subconscious obsession with something."

"He really cares about his Mom," Yu finally said, saving me from trying to explain a Complex to Teddie, "Maybe he's worried about how that would make him look if it came out."

"Wait, that's it?" Teddie finally asked after Yu went quiet, "That's all I have to go on!? You guys are really working me to my stuffing…"

"Aren't you empty?" Yosuke asked for what probably was not the first time today, it had been a long day already.

"Empty or not, I'm still a bear! Now I'll open my nose up and sniff real hard. But don't blame me if I can't find this guy," Teddie said as he turned around and… literally started sniffing the fog.

"He acts like a dog," I heard Yosuke complain as we all watched Teddie do his thing

"A bear with the nose of a bloodhound, it's no surprise you guys keep finding the people thrown in here," I added in as well, "Not like you can see where they are through all this fog."

"Oh yeah, this is you guys' first time in here, isn't it?" Chie asked, no doubt meaning Yukiko and I. Besides being kidnapped, this was the first time we'd gone in here willingly.

Suddenly, Teddie swung back around, "I think I found it! It feels like our target… Is this it!?"

And suddenly he was off like a rocket, "Follow me!"

My arm was grabbed by someone, in the hustle I couldn't tell who it was, but I did know that they were clearly trying to keep Yukiko and I from being lost. We ran for a few minutes before stopping. And the fog was even thicker now than it was before! And hotter…. Actually, this probably wasn't fog.

"Is it just me, or does the fog here seem kinda different?" Chie asked, so it wasn't just me that was feeling like this fog was hotter than before.

"How can you tell, Chie? I just see the same fog as before," Yukiko said, and this time it was Teddie who responded to her. "That's right, you two need some Teddie Glasses!" he exclaimed.

"You just made that name up, didn't you?" I asked, "Besides, I'm already wearing glasses. You think you can make prescription glasses?"

But Teddie didn't seem to even notice, handing glasses off to Yukiko with some incredibly flowery language about how he made them just for her. "So these are what everyone's wearing. Thank you, Teddie," she said to the resident Bear and apparently fog-piercing glasses-maker.

"So do they work?" I asked her, not that I really needed to. If everyone else was not complaining about the fog, then obviously these glasses must work.

"Uh huh, it's like the fog doesn't even exist," Yukiko said back to me.

"You know, now that Masahiro-senpai brings it up, how come you have so many pairs of glasses?" Chie suddenly asked Teddie, as he was walking the few steps between Yukiko and myself.

"Excellent question!" Teddie exclaimed, stopping dead in his tracks, "I'm the one that makes them. I lived here for a long time, so I came up with some ways to be comfortable."

"Teddie, you aren't wearing any glasses," Saki said, "And you're empty inside on top of it."

"Um…" the Bear dragged the word out as if trying to find an answer, "Another excellent question. But my eyes themselves are lenses! You didn't know?"

"No," Yosuke quickly and angrily responded, "Of course not…"

"Wh-why are you being so mean? You act like you aren't interested! I'm a really dexterous Bear," Teddie said, glaring at Yosuke as he said so.

"Guys," Yu finally said as Teddie threatened to start touching Yosuke to show off his finger movements, "We have someone to save, don't we?"

And with a collective sigh we agreed. Teddie finally finishing his trip over by me and holding something out in his hand.

"Teddie, I already said I wear glasses already," I said as I grabbed what he was holding.

"I know, that's why I made these special!" he happily said as I realized what I was holding wasn't so much a typical pair of glasses, as a silly set of clip on sunglasses. Just with magic-TV-lenses instead of tinted lenses.

"Um… that's actually thoughtful of you," I finally said after a moment, and slid the second lenses over my glasses. And just like Yukiko said, the fog was practically gone. Except for a mysterious white fog pouring out around the door in front of us.

Steam.

"My glasses are fogging up already," Yukiko muttered, and that fact was true for all of us. Except maybe Teddie, since his eyes are lenses or whatever.

"I feel like I'm standing in a hot shower," I said as well, "Are we sure Kanji's in a place like this? I was expecting like a textile shop or something."

"It's like a-" Yosuke was about to say before something, music, cut us off. It was the most sickening slow saxophone music you'd have ever not wanted to hear. And it was accompanied by a distinctly Kanji-esque voice saying, "C'mere, pussycat. There's no need to be scared."

We were all frozen in our steps, before the voice abated and Chie turned to look at us all. An "Uhhh" was all she could manage to say after that.

"I'm not going in there," Yosuke said flatly, and Yu and I both nodded along. "It's too risky," Yu said. "I came from a city with places like this, best not to go in," I added as well.

"Are we positive Kanji-kun is here," Yukiko asked, turning around to look at Teddie, who gave her a nice bow.

"The nose knows!"

"I guess we're going in then," Chie sighed, as Yosuke immediately took a step back, "We're really going in there? I can already feel the sweat running down my back…"

"Stop complaining," Chie finally said after Yosuke rambled on about losing something important, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the doorway.

The rest of us followed, reluctantly, after the two of them. No going back now.

Several floors worth of empty baths later, we'd come upon another steam-leaking door.

"Man what's with this place, there aren't any Shadows anywhere," Yosuke said, looking a little edgy as he held tight to the pair of daggers he'd brought with him.

"Maybe it's indicative of Kanji's mental state," Saki mused as Yu was opening the door, "Perhaps all this anger and aggression is just his complex."

"Yeah, well then what's with all of this steam and sexual talk?" Yosuke asked immediately after Saki's answer.

This time I shrugged and answered, walking through the door Yu had just opened as I did so, "Misunderstanding? Maybe he's inviting us in to get lost in the…. Fog….."

My words trailed off, and Yosuke quickly saw why. We had all stopped and were staring at the giant wrestler in front of us. Well, sort of a giant wrestler. It's skin was black, covered in pink orbs, It wore white briefs and boots, and had rainbow-colored hair.

Kid you not. Rainbow hair.

And standing next to it, looking decidedly less weird compared to the rainbow wrestler, was Kanji. In a towel. With a creepy purple aura about him.

"Kanji!" Yosuke called out to him, but Kanji only looked at him and…. Blushed. "Ohhhhh… My my," Kanji said, his voice oozing…. Flirtatiousness? Given my experience when I was in here, I'm starting to think this isn't Kanji.

"Thank you for your undivided attention," 'Kanji' continued to gush, before getting into the innuendos, "At least I've _penetrated_ the facility. These images are coming to you live from inside this steamy paradise. But I've yet to have any charming encounters. Could this hot fog be the cause?"

"It's steam, and no. It's because you're inside a television," I muttered to myself, honestly this Kanji had to be the least aware person ever.

"This is wrong in so many ways," I heard Yosuke whine. Then again, he wasn't wrong.

"I remember it being kinda like this on Yukiko's shadow, too," Chie replied, and I had to assume she was lying. Yukiko? Like this? Impossible.

"N-No, it wasn't like this…" Yukiko replied quickly, maybe a little too quickly. Either way, there would be time to ask Yukiko about her Shadow when we weren't currently standing before Kanji's Shadow and a Rainbow Wrestler.

"Look out, that Shadow is getting really restless!" Teddie called out, reminding everyone about the Shadow that was with Kanji. I mean, it didn't look any more restless, but I'm going to take Teddie's word for this one.

"That elusive thing I _truly_ yearn for, will I finally find it here?" Kanji's Shadow asked, before giving one of the weirdest laughs ever. Like, not evil, just…. Trying too hard.

"Well then, onward and deeper to reach further levels of romance! Let's get going, dammit!" His Shadow declared, briefly sounding like the real Kanji, before turning tail and running.

And leaving his Rainbow Wrestler friend behind, with us. Actually, more like blocking our way deeper.

"Kanji-kun!" Yukiko called after the Shadow, but it was no use. He wasn't coming back, and that Shadow was now actually looking restless. Glaring down at us, cracking its fists.

"Look out, it's going to attack!" Teddie called, diving behind the door as soon as his mouth shut.

The action then started swiftly. Blue light flooding the room as a myriad of cards floated down from above. The card was familiar at least, I'd seen it before a few weeks back. My Shadow had turned into my Persona who turned into a card.

I reached down to my side, grabbing my saber's hilt. A smile growing on my face as I pulled it loose from the scabbard, white to match the belt I wore it on. With a quick flourish I sunk my feet down into a proper fighting posture.

The card was nearly eye level to me, just off to my side and ahead of me.

The next motion came to me like it was programmed into my brain by my Persona. My right hand, my empty one, clenched into a fist and pulled across my body. And as soon as the card was at chest level with me, I swung my arm outward with a shout of "Dionysus!"

The sensation that followed was…. Unimaginable. The feeling of power welling up inside of me, before practically bursting out was as if years of a host of emotions just were released. Hidden emotions fought, mastered, and weaponized.

My Persona, Dionysus.

Everyone else had their Personas out too by now. Weapons out to go with them, some of us in fighting stances.

"I've got this!" Yosuke called out as he took off running, the giant Shadow taking little time to process what just happened before rearing it's right arm back and plunging a fist right at Yosuke.

But Yosuke was too fast, or maybe just too good, for the giant Shadow to catch. "Too slow!" He yelled as he started running around the Shadow, his own Persona following suit, before leaping at the Shadow's backside…

And then his daggers, and the shurikens of his Jiraiya, glanced right off the Shadow. Barely leaving a mark. "That's some thick skin," I could just barely hear him say before the Shadow turned around to face its attacker. Leaving its backside entirely open to us.

"Look out, it's strong against physical attacks!" Teddie yelled from behind us. Not that it helped either Yukiko or I much to know that whacking the giant Wrestler with our weapons was ineffective.

But Yu seemed to understand it well enough. Clenching his fist in front of him as he yelled out, with dramatic point for flair, "Izanagi!" His Persona understood the intent of this, as it extended an outstretched arm to match its master, calling down lightning upon the Shadow.

It convulsed a bit on the spot, but seemed able to shrug off the lightning without much difficulty.

"I've got this!" Saki called out, raising her knife up… and plunging it toward the ground? I mean it seemed ridiculous, but it seemed to work, as her Persona extended her arms. A strange purple…. Orb? Shield? Something to that effect surrounded the Shadow for a moment, before Teddie called out that it's defense was down.

That was a phrase I understood in all of this. Defense down? That means attack!

I stepped forward, this was something I knew I could do. With a flourish, I pointed my saber forward, calling out "Dionysus!" once more. I wasn't sure what to expect, besides something that could best be described as magic.

Dionysus actually mimicked my move, almost to a rehearsed quality, pointing forward with its staff…. It's thyrsus as lightning crashed down onto the Shadow.

Like Yu's attack, the Shadow merely shrugged this off after a moment, but just knowing that I'd done a little bit of damage felt…. Great.

"Uh oh, it's turning back this way!" I called out, watching as the Shadow spun back around to face the bulk of our group.

"Incoming!" I heard Teddie say as a giant fist came flying at Yu, Saki, and Myself. They apparently knew enough to get out of the way, but by the time I noticed the incoming fist, I was about to go flying past Yukiko and into a wall.

It hurt.

I crumpled to the ground, groaning and struggling back onto my feet. All things considered, that kind of a hit should have killed me… did my Persona do something to protect me?

"I've got you," I heard Yukiko say by me… my hearing was a little off from the impact… I looked over and she was a few feet away from me, spinning her fan around as her Persona mimicked the action as well.

It seemed to be a thing, Personas mimicking the actions of their Human, and that would take some getting used to. Both seeing, and fighting with.

But while I'd been thinking about that, a sudden…. Cool and calming sensation washed over me, and suddenly my ears weren't ringing, my back wasn't hurting, and I actually felt like I'd never gotten punched right into a wall.

"Yukiko, you healed me?" I asked, thankfully we were safe for the moment. Chie was trying to freeze the Shadow, and the Shadow was trying to get its hands on her. Neither were making much progress, but it was keeping the Shadow distracted.

"It's what my Persona does, it can heal," Yukiko said, as the room began to shake.

"All right!" Yosuke cheered, and it was easy to see why once Yukiko and I turned to look at the battle again. The Shadow was on its knees, and Yosuke was already dashing in with his daggers, "One for all and all for one!"

We all rushed in on the Shadow, not unlike what happened when I fought my own Shadow. But this time I was armed. The brawl was too chaotic to do any stabbing, and the Shadow was fighting us off even as we ganged up on it, but I got some good hits in.

But this Shadow didn't go down from our efforts, finally standing up and throwing Yosuke off of it.

"Hey big guy!" Chie yelled, as she rushed the Shadow, kicking at it to minimal effect. But the ensuing block of ice sent at it by her Persona was more her intent it seemed, as the Shadow stumbled back and took its gaze off the recently-thrown Yosuke.

And it swung at Chie, trying to knock her away just like it had me. But Chie was ready, bouncing out of the way as the Shadow's fist swung right past her at full speed. Sending the Shadow spinning back around, exposing its backside to Chie and I.

"I got this one!" I said to Chie, taking a step forward and flourishing my saber once more. If it worked earlier, might as well try it again. Especially since neither Chie's kicking or Yosuke's dagger have done much to this Shadow.

Dionysus reacted immediately, once again mimicking my movements and raining lightning down on the Shadow. It convulsed for a moment before slouching, and then turning around once again. Practically red with rage at this point.

Before I could react, the Shadow took off running at me, ready for one more punch. This time I at least tried to move, more specifically diving under it. But rather than a face full of Shadow fist, I got a face full of…. Green wind?

"Jiraiya!" I heard Yosuke yell just before the wind appeared, and the wind was oddly painless as I passed through it. But not so painless to the Shadow, as it crumpled straight to the ground behind me.

"Time to finish this!" Yu yelled as he charged at the Shadow, Izanagi trailing behind him, both with swords at the ready. Nobody else followed him, nobody else had to.

Once he reached the Shadow, it was just a single stab from both Yu and Izanagi, and the Shadow dissolved into dark mist.

And a sense of relief came over me, "That…. Was actually fun."

"Not bad," Chie said with a deep breath, "Guess the six of us can take on just about anything!"

"So what Shadow's next?" I asked, putting my saber back in the scabbard and heading toward the door on the far side of the room.

"Hopefully none, that was enough Shadow for one day," Yosuke said as he walked over by the door we'd come through.

"Hard to believe you're the one who wants to go back, Yosuke," Saki said sarcastically from her spot in the room.

"Come on, we have to save Kanji!" I yelled across the room, maybe coming off a little too angry, since Yu decided to intervene.

"We have until the next time the fog rolls in to save Kanji. We have at least another two trips here. We should go back for now, that was actually a tough fight compared to normal Shadows."

I sighed, "Fine, we can go back then…"

"It's great that you're able to go on. You look like the most fit person on the team," Yu joked as I headed over to the exit door.

"You have the strangest humor," I quipped back.

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* * *

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 _Okay so I'm super late on this chapter in large part because my Sister decided to leave home abruptly one day. However, about two and a half weeks later, I finally have this chapter done, along with some bullet points for an outro here:_

 _1\. Bet you thought I forgot the glasses, huh? I…. actually kinda had._

 _2\. I was this close to cutting this chapter in half, and pushing the TV world off to another chapter. Figured you wanted to see how massive this chapter got._

 _3\. Before you get all jumpy on me having Masahiro interact with Naoto, I had to do something to fill time there rather than jump directly to the anime's events. It'll probably have some significance at some point._

 _4\. I actually got to the fight and realized I had no fighting style for Saki, and was missing a large part of Masahiro's. Oops._

 _5\. Next chapter is going to be more Social Links. Because only in the Anime do they save the victim the same day. Oh, did I mention this is an adaptation of Persona 4 GOLDEN?_

 _6\. Changing up a bit of the design stuff with the story. Title, description, just a general cleanup as I have a better idea what I'm doing here._

 _7\. AND NOW A BONUS ONE! So this was originally gonna come out on Sunday, but then I decided to drop a water bottle on a top-venting computer. Yay~ Good news is it wasn't much water and the computer survived after drying out._


	18. The Girl With No Memories

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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* * *

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 **May 22, 2011**

 **Afternoon**

It was hard working so close to the TVs knowing that someone was trapped in there.

We weren't going into the TVs today since we'd gone on Thursday already. Even if Yu had wanted to, iin order to get the time off to investigate Kanji; Yosuke, Saki, and I had been stuck working today.

And that brings me back to it being hard working. I just wanted to stick my hand through the TV and go rescue Kanji myself. And I didn't even know the guy.

But by the fourth time I was walking past the TVs, you'd never guess who had shown up. It was Yu! Also Chie. But Yu! The boss! The guy who tells us when we're going to go save somebody!

"Hey Yu, Chie," I said as I walked over by them, "Why are you two here? Planning what to do ab-"

I trailed off noticing that there was a third person with them. She wasn't part of our little team. She was a bit taller than Chie, with short black hair, white shirt, black tie, striped gloves, pleated skirt, leggings, boots, and a blue hat. Now I'm not going to be able to identify that boy from his hat.

"-bout Chie's TV!" I then finished speaking, making up a good enough cover.

"Are you implying something wrong with my TV?" Chie asked, sounding a tad snippy that I just insulted her TV.

"No, but you did say you wanted a new one, right?"

"Hey Masahiro-senpai," Yu finally said, probably just to try and not have Chie blow up at me in front of this other girl, "I was just here with Marie and-"

The other girl, apparently her name was Marie, was too busy looking at the TVs to even notice me anymore. "I know what this is," she said absentmindedly, "It shows a lot of stuff."

"Oh, you came to look at the TVs too?" Chie said as she walked over by Marie.

"Called it," I thought to myself, not daring to tempt the wrath of Chie any further while on the clock.

"Well if either of you want one, I'm the person to talk to," I said with a grin. It was somewhat true, they could talk to me about getting a TV, or talk to most anyone else on this floor.

"I-I don't want one!" Marie was quick to respond with, "Who even are you!?"

"Masahiro Akimoto," I said without missing a beat, "Third year student, friend of these two, employee here."

Marie didn't seem all that impressed though, "I didn't ask for all that. But maybe…. Can you turn it to StarScandalz?"

I'd never heard of it, but the name sounded like some kind of bad gossip show.

"What kind of show is that?" Yu asked, so apparently I wasn't the only person here who had no idea what StarScandalz was.

Marie, however, was surprised that Yu didn't know what it was. Maybe this show was some sort of thing in Okina? "It's like… one of those shows, right? The one where they're all like 'blah de blah de blah.' Everybody watches it. Margaret told me so."

Strike everything I'd said, Marie didn't even know what kind of a show it was.

"Sounds more like a gossip show if you ask me," I said, "Which probably means this Margaret was right…" I trailed off at the end, the name Margaret sounded familiar to me….

And then it dawned on me! The Culture Festival, she was the fortune teller in that weird blue booth! It probably was foolish to think there was a connection, but Inaba is not that big of a place. Surely there was only one Margaret living here.

"So how do you watch it, employee guy?" Marie asked, cutting off my thoughts about the fortune teller on the spot.

"Wait, you don't know how to use a TV but you know what StarScandalz is!?" I asked with surprise, quickly trying to explain how you use a TV, "Well you need to turn it on, and then you input the number of the channel you want on the remote that comes with it….. Oh and make sure it's plugged in.

"Marie, are you one of those people who doesn't watch TV?" Chie asked with equal surprise. While I was talking no less. Marie at least waited until I was done explaining to nod, "That's right. There isn't one in that room."

Her word choice had me confused, but Chie seemed not to notice. "Wow!" she exclaimed, "Your parents must be super strict. Girl, I don't think I could stand it. Life without Kung Fu movies? Brr…"

Chie practically shivered when she finished talking. Yosuke's parents hadn't even turned on the AC in here yet.

"But there's no 'electic loutwitz' in that room, either," Marie said somberly, as Chie and I stared in awe.

"I heard of… whatever they're called… but I didn't think they existed in Japan," I murmured. I'd heard of them back when I lived in America. They didn't use any modern conveniences. Maybe Marie was one of them.

"I'll tell the nose to install one of those 'eclectic loutwitz.' There's nothing to do in there!" Marie decided, maybe more like complained.

And then she started walking away.

"H-hey! Wait, Marie-chan!" Chie called after her, "You don't even have electricity in your room!?"

Yu, meanwhile, started walking after Marie. He was calm and quiet the whole time, was this normal for her?

Chie followed after Yu, and after a moment I decided to follow as well. It's not like anyone else was in this part of the store anyway, nobody would miss me.

By the time we'd caught up to Marie, she'd gone as far as the Food Court. Chie, deciding Marie, or maybe just herself, was hungry, had bought us all beefsteaks. The Junes kind, it's served up on a nice tray, but doesn't taste anywhere near as good as what you get in the Shopping District.

"That was some good stuff Satisfaction," Chie said, practically glowing after she'd eaten two entire trays of food.

"I hope you know you're paying for that on your own," I said to her, "I'm not gonna let you turn me into the next Yosuke; always buying you steak."

"I can afford the steak here," Chie shot back, not so much angry as just still glowing, "I don't get it all that often. But it really isn't all that bad."

"Are you okay, Marie? You haven't eaten anything?" Yu asked, though he was one to talk. He'd barely touched his food, either.

"Yeah, Marie-chan. You've gotta eat if you wanna grow up big and strong!" Chie said with a laugh, "Just kidding."

"You eat too fast," Marie muttered, "You're going to get fat one day."

"I didn't need to hear that," Chie said as her face suddenly shifted into a frown.

We all just stared at each other after that, before Chie stood up. "Uh…. I'll go get us some drinks," she said before quickly shuffling off to one of the stands.

"So… Marie…. " I awkwardly started saying after Chie'd left, "This Margaret lady…. What does she do exactly?"

"Margaret? She's the Nose's assistant."

"And who's the Nose?"

"He's the guy with the cards," Marie said, her tone starting to sound sour as she looked over at Yu, "You deal with him, you explain."

Yu looked a little flustered, "Well…. He's a fortune teller of sorts."

"So he's like Margaret in that regard?" I asked, earning a questioning look from Yu so I decided to just explain now, "She was at the Culture Festival last year, doing readings with cards."

"That sounds like him, then…." Yu said before he trailed off and glanced over at Marie, "Marie is an assistant to the two of them."

"Is that so?" I asked with a grin, "Well I should be extra nice to you, or you might screw with my fortune."

"I can't do anything like that!" Marie complained defensively before we all heard a passing child complaining to his mother about wanting a soda. You see it a few times a day here, kid wants something, parents says no, kid whines.

But to Marie, it seemed to consume her attention. After the mother and child had passed, Marie turned to look at Yu, "Hey, do you think I was ever like that?"

"A kid?" Yu asked, "Of course you were, everyone was at some point."

"If you meant the annoying part, probably that too," I added, most kids tend to be annoying at a certain age.

"If you say so…" Marie said, looking sideways uncertainly.

"Marie…. Do you not remember when you were a kid?" Yu finally asked, snapping Marie's head back forward.

"Yeah…. There's a lot I don't remember. Everything, really…" Marie confessed, without much provocation, before just staring at her food, "I don't remember anything…"

"Nothing at all?" I asked in surprise, and Yu just looked at me, not trying to stop me from asking.

"Nothing," Marie said with a slight edge, "I was just walking… I had nowhere to go, and then I just ended up with the Nose. Then Margaret told me to stay there. She was the one who gave me the name Marie, it'd be hard to get by without a name."

"Man, and here I thought I had things rough," I muttered. "So is there anything that you know for sure, Marie?"

"I don't need to know anything," Marie said with false confidence, "But I do know this. This town feels familiar to me somehow…"

"Maybe you used to live here?" Yu asked, "You know…. Before everything?"

"... I don't know," Marie said, her false confidence melting away as she stared at the ground again, "The only thing I remember- or more like 'know'- is that this is mine."

Marie then reached into her blue bag, and pulled out a small wooden comb, "I had this from the start. This is definitely mine. But… so what?"

"Then that means we can find your memories," Yu said with a grin.

"How does that help anything?" Marie asked.

"If we can find out where that came from, we can find out why you have it," Yu said, "And then we can find your memories."

"Yeah! Yu and I can find your memories wherever they're hiding!" I exclaimed, practically jumping out of my seat. I'm glad Chie hadn't seen that.

"I-I never said you had to help," Marie sputtered, looking between the two of us.

"Don't worry, Marie, he's normally that excitable," Yu said with a laugh.

"Am not," I muttered.

But Marie didn't look cheered up despite Yu's statement, "You guys are the ones searching for truth, right?"

"Well yeah, wait…. How did you know-" I tried to ask, before Marie replied.

"You should stop. There's no such thing."

"Well if that's what you think, Marie. But that doesn't mean we're going to stop," Yu explained.

And just as quickly as she started talking about this, Marie's mood shifted again, "This conversation's boring. Let's talk about something else."

And then, finally, Chie returned. She seemed happy enough, so I guess she didn't overhear anything we were saying, "Sorry to keep you guys waiting! The shop was busy, so I just ordered and came back here. They'll bring it to us when it's ready."

Then she finally noticed the mood between the three of us, "Um… is it just me or is the mood a little heavy here?"

"Nothing, Chie. Just…. A mystery," I said with a sly grin, "So Marie, did you ever try the drinks here?"

.

* * *

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 _*looks at expiration date on Scent 16's draft, then on this one's* THIRTY DAYS SINCE I LAST UPDATED!? HOLY PHILEMON!_

 _Anyway hello and welcome to a short and late chapter. I was going to do this probably last Thursday. Then Breath of the Wild happened, then Zeldathon happened. Summer is fun, isn't it?_

 _Originally I was gonna do a School Segment to lead off this chapter, but in order to get this out before like… July…. I had to cut it. It'll lead off the next chapter instead._

 _As for this Chapter, I actually did NOT expect Marie to take nearly 6 pages entirely on her own (it came out to about 5.25). Thus why I was gonna once again slam 3 "social links" into one chapter and ship it._

 _I actually like how this turned out, first time I've said that in a while, it gave me a chance to advance several different things at once._

 _Anyway that's all I got. More Social Linkage and a School Segment coming…. Weekend after the 4th? Then I'll be pushing another chapter out the weekend before July 27th to the 3rd I'll be out of town (and state) (and general geographical region of the country) attending Pokethon Heroes!_

 _#ShamelessPlug_


	19. A Day In The Life

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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* * *

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 **May 26, 2011**

 **School**

I hadn't really had much of a chance to focus on school in the last few weeks, and my grades on the exams reflected that.

It was easy to hide that from my Father, he really only cared about two exams. Before Summer Break, and then at the end of the year.

Mrs. Kasai, however, would not get off my case about it. "You're hurting your future," she'd tell me. She didn't understand everything that's been going on outside of school, and I can't tell her about the Kidnappings either.

Still, days without her are a breath of fresh air. Like today,

Today was a History sort of day, however, which was…. Well an experience.

Mr. Makuda wasn't wearing his hat today. Normally, he was wearing a Tricorne hat, three guesses why.

The guy was crazy for American history, but somehow wasn't the craziest history teacher around the school. That went to Sofue, the 2nd year teacher in the Egyptian headdress. If you ever come to Yasogami you'll see.

Maybe it's just something about being a history teacher for so long that makes you crazy… Gekkoukan had a crazy Samurai teacher, too.

Either way, as the only student in the class to have lived for any appreciable length of time in America, I quickly became Mr. Makuda's favorite student.

He was lecturing us on Western History today, and was surveying the class for someone to ask a question. Which means….

"Akimoto, I'll ask you," He said after his entirely fake pause. I was always the one answering questions, and usually they weren't even related to what we were talking about.

I sighed as I stood up, not audibly or anything, just so people around me could hear.

"What important historical event happened around the year 1500?" I was asked.

Now normally I'd have no idea, but by now I think both he and I are fully aware if there's question asked of me, it's about strictly American history. Not that that helps really cares that much about what happened before Colonists arrived, but Mr. Makuda does.

"I dunno, probably some explorer came or something?" I said with a shrug, there were a bunch of those after Columbus. Fourteen seventy-something I think that happened.

"Close, Akimoto," Mr. Makuda said with a slight frown, "That was the time of Amerigo Vespucci's discovery of the continental Americas. Honestly, Akimoto, you should know this."

I just shut my eyes, and then rolled them. Nobody really cared about that stuff.

"Between 1499 and 1502, Vespucci explored the coast of South America, and in 1507 the continent was named America after him," Mr. Makuda explained.

I then slid back into my seat quietly, giving Saki a look of "here we go again."

"While Columbus was the first to discover the New World, he did not discover the continental Americas until his third journey there in 1498."

We were supposed to be discussing Middle Age Europe, but that's out the window now. It's honestly a miracle that we ever get anything done in this class, every other day seems to turn into some lesson about American history.

"Despite Columbus discovering the continental Americas first, he merely brushed the coast of South America, while Vespucci explored most all of its Atlantic Coast."

On the plus side, I felt a little smarter…

After the lecture was finally over, I decided to go track down Yu. After everything that happened with Marie, I wanted to make sure she was doing okay. Well, that and I felt I owed Yu a bit of a reset on our relationship; since the last time we bonded it was because I felt I shouldn't be part of the team.

* * *

 **May 26, 2011**

 **After School**

"You didn't have to treat me," Yu said as we were sitting at Aiya's after school. "Nonsense," I replied while eating, "We've never really had a chance to get to know each other."

The last time that Yu and I had met, just the two of us, we were both wrapped up in my memories. I hadn't found out anything about them, but I had come to realize one thing; I didn't remember as much about Gekkoukan as I thought I did.

"So Yu, what's up with that Marie girl? She really can't remember anything?" I asked. The whole Marie thing had given me a... different perspective on my own issues. At least I still knew who I was.

"I suppose it's true," Yu said, sounding a little down about that fact, "That was the first I'd heard about it, too."

"Well next time she's in town let me know so I can help."

"Sure, I'll tell everyone in fact," Yu replied with, glancing out the window at the shopping district.

"The scenery isn't as nice," I commented, "But the food beats what you'd get at Hagakure."

Yu chuckled lightly at that, "Remembering more now?"

"No," I said, "I just keep finding things I don't know."

"Well that's progress. Maybe if you can find out what you don't know, you can find what you do," Yu said, making it sound so easy.

"So what have you been doing after school anyway? Not poking around the TVs, right?" I asked, since Yu was always busy after school it seemed. Between us, the investigation, and…. I don't know. He didn't have job so far as I knew.

"I've been practicing with the Basketball team, and the Band," Yu rattled off after I'd asked. Apparently the investigation wasn't the only thing he'd been doing.

"I used to be in band, you know?" I asked Yu, perhaps finding something in common with him, well… not really in common, "I stopped after I started attending Gekkoukan, though. I had…. Had…."

I trailed off, closing my eyes for a moment…. There it was again, that something that I was forgetting…

"... I had something that kept me out of it," I finally said again, eyes still shut.

Yu didn't seem to mind what I'd just done, though not like I could tell with my eyes shut. All I could tell was he calmly said, "Well, you had Fencing, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but there was something more. But for the life of me, besides Fencing and hanging out with some classmates I can't seem to pinpoint it," I sighed, opening my eyes again and just staring out at the shopping district.

There was silence for a moment, before Yu said, "Have you ever considered keeping a journal?"

"A journal?"

"Yeah," Yu said with a nod, "You can keep track of these things you're forgetting, so we have a better idea of where to start."

"That sounds almost too easy," I said with a laugh, "You really are too perfect for your own good, Yu."

And suddenly, I felt a wave of Deja Vu…

* * *

 **May 28, 2011**

 **After School**

Honestly, it surprised even me when Yukiko showed up looking for me after class.

Well, in fairness it was more like I ran into her on the stairs and we stopped to talk.

"Hey, Yukiko!" I called out to her, "Where are you going?"

"Huh?" She said as she stopped and looked up the stairs, "Oh, Masahiro-senpai! Chie was waiting on the roof for me."

Well, that explains that. But then again, when was the last time Yukiko, Chie, and I had hung out? Would have been before Yukiko was kidnapped at least. Probably a bit earlier, I believe Chie was wrapped up in this Investigation already when I found her crying in Junes.

"Well, is this something for just you two? I'll come along if you want, I've got nothing going on," I said with a shrug.

Yukiko didn't even take a moment to think about it, "Sure."

Chie was waiting for Yukiko, naturally, "Oh hey Masahiro-senpai…. You're not here for Narukami, are you?"

"Nothing of the sort," I said as I sat down on one of the vents that crossed the roof, "It's just been forever since we last hung out together and I ran into Yukiko on the stairs."

"Well that's a relief. I wonder when the fog is going to set in again," Chie mused as she looked up at the sky. It had rained earlier, and the black clouds were still overhead, meaning it'd probably be raining again soon.

"The news said that we'd be getting a few days of rain late next week," Yukiko said, "We'll probably have fog again during that."

We all sighed, that was a downer to think about.

"Well, we're going in again tomorrow, so let's try to get Kanji out of there!" Chie exclaimed after our pause.

"Hey, Yukiko, by the way. How is Kanji's mother doing with all of this?" I asked, turning to Yukiko as Chie started to fume about us ignoring her.

"Huh? She's…. Getting by..." Yukiko said with a sigh, "I wonder if my parents were worried when I was in there."

"Well sure they were," I said with a big smile, "What else would they be thinking about? The Inn?"

Yukiko just shook her head, as Chie looked between the two of us, "Did either of you even listen to me?"

"Did you say something?" I asked, it may have sounded like a joke but I honestly didn't hear Chie if she had said something important.

"I asked how the Inn was doing," Chie groaned, "You know, after the murder?"

"Well the reporters all left after Kanji went missing. They're all over the Shopping District now, though. But…. reservations are down now that the reporters moved on."

"That's terrible! What are they so scared of?" Chie exclaimed, leaving me free to respond with "A killer on the loose? Ghosts?"

Chie wasn't much of a fan of ghosts. So it was fun every now and then to bring up the possibility.

"Hah…. why would anyone think the Inn is haunted?" Chie asked, with an air of worry in her voice.

"Actually, there was this one Television show that wanted to a special on the Inn…." Yukiko mused, "They wanted to do a story on if the Inn was haunted after all of this…."

"Wait, seriously?" Chie asked, stunned. None of us heard of this before, and no wonder why.

"We turned them down, of course. It's hard enough getting anyone to stay as it is," Yukiko explained, "They were going to portray the Inn as haunted by Ms. Yamano's ghost."

"No respect for the dead," I muttered. Don't ask me why, but just that fact alone made me hate the media more for their obsession with that murder.

"Tell me about it!" Chie yelled, getting up off of her seat, "All these freaks taking advantage of what we're going through!"

Yukiko just laughed at Chie's reaction, while I was the one to say "Chie…. They aren't taking advantage of us. There's no public connection between the kidnappings and the murder…"

"What? Well…." Chie tried to explain herself, before I just grinned and cut her off.

"It's fine. We get your sentiment."

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 _Only a day late, that's not too bad considering all the distractions I had._

 _So it's about 5.5 pages, but combined with the Marie bit this would have been one of the longer chapters for me. Maybe I should have kept them combined._

 _Maybe I shouldn't have taken 30 days to get the Marie bit out_

 _Either way, I've been doing some actually Persona-related stuff again! Namely playing more of 4 (Heaven has the best BGM in that game), finishing the Animation (the true ending episode was trash), and consolidating a ton of the information for this story. Believe it or not I had like 4 different documents containing everything from stat breakdowns to social link profiles. Hope that consolidating that into one searchable document will make it easier for me to stay consistent and on track with future chapters._

 _Also the IRL drama that has really slowed my interest in this story to a halt seems to have passed._

 _Not gotten better. Just passed._

 _Restraining orders'll do that._

 _Anyway next chapter'll be out by the 28th! (Of July) (Of 2016) And it'll finally put a bow on the Kanji Rescue arc, so hopefully after Pokethon has come and gone I can start with a fresh pair of eyes on the interlude and Striptease._


	20. The Shadow That Loved Cute Things

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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 **May 29, 2011**

 **TV World**

You know how they say that warm air rises? Well apparently hot, humid, steamy air also rises. By the time we had climbed our way back up to the 11th floor of this bathhouse, and for that matter why does a bathhouse have floors, I was thoroughly exhausted.

"Ugh, it's too hot," I groaned as the rest of the group was staring at a rather large door in front of us, "Is this the end finally?"

"This is it, alright!" Teddie declared as he sniffed at the crack between the two doors, "I can smell Kanji just through here."

Yu just nodded and reached out for the handle, "Everyone ready?"

We all nodded, and I took a deep breath of the horrible humid air. Those of us for whom this wasn't the first rescue already had their weapons out, maybe Yukiko and I should do that too.

But there wasn't any time for that as Yu practically body slammed the door open and we all went rushing into the room beyond. It wasn't that different from the rest of the bathhouse. There were baths, and carpeting, and steam. Only difference was there were no more hallways or stairways here.

There was, however, Kanji and a Kanji wearing very little clothing. I'd seen that scantily-clad Kanji before, but…. It's still nothing I wanted to see in the first place.

So I just stared around the room so as not to think too much about Kanji's physique.

"Kanji!" Yosuke called out to the latest victim of this place, but Kanji barely if at all noticed. He was too busy stammering at the Other Kanji.

"Oh, come on now!" the Other Kanji said, voice dripping with lust… and lisp… and a bad attempt at pitching up, "Enough with the charade! Isn't it awful to deceive people? To deceive yourself? What's so bad about doing what I want to do?"

"That has nothin' to do with it…" Kanji angrily muttered.

"Does it?" the Other Kanji asked, apparently leaning closer to Kanji, "I'm what you really want, aren't I?"

"Hell no!" Kanji suddenly yelled out, almost punching the Other Him right in the jaw.

Yet nobody in our group made a move.

"Uh, guys?" I whispered, "Shouldn't we do something?"

"Not yet," Yu whispered back to me, "If it's like the other Shadows, Kanji needs to face this."

"Didn't mine just go nuts and try to kill you all?"

"They only go bearzerk if you reject them!" Teddie added in, still sounding scared, like he had since we'd first gotten back into the Bathhouse, "Like Kanji looks about ready to do!"

It was true, Kanji still looked about ready to haul off and hit his Other Self, while said Other Self was rattling off things Girls apparently thought of him.

"What does it really mean to be 'a guy?' What does it mean to be 'manly?'" The Other Kanji asked, "Girls are so scary…"

"Dude, Kanji's scared of Girls?" I heard Yosuke ask someone else in our group, before Kanji, possibly hearing that, blurted out, "I-I ain't scared of 'em!"

And the Other Kanji grinned at that little rejection, continuing to egg Kanji on. "Men are so much better," he gushed, "They'd never say those awful, degrading things. Yes, I vastly prefer men."

"Hell with that!" Kanji yelled, anger practically boiling over now, "What makes you think you can say that shit with my face!?"

"Why, you're me…. And I'm you… You do know that, don't you?" the Other Kanji finally said, grinning ear to ear as Kanji immediately freaked out.

"Nuh-uh, no way!" he stammered in anger, "There's no way in **hell** that you're me!"

I heard Yu move his sword in front of him before I realized what was going on. See, when your Shadow goes berserk, it kinda leaves you in a mental daze. Maybe it has something to do with that thing being outside of you.

Either way, Kanji's Shadow threw its head back in laughter, "You're me, and there's no denying it!" It's voice growing deeper and more…. Demonic as it was surrounded in a mass of red fog that seemed to be pouring out of the baths themselves.

"Teddie!" Yu called out to our ursine support. "Got it!" Teddie called back and, as if with practice, Teddie ran and dragged Kanji off behind one of the baths, his ears still poking up from behind it.

Actually, I did remember being dragged or something when my Shadow went crazy.

On which note, Kanji's Shadow had transformed in the red fog. The figure that was now standing there was substantially taller, with muscular arms and black skin, and roses instead of…. Chest…. Hair…..

And Kanji's upper body in the middle of those roses.

Oh, and two of those Mars Symbols for weapons. "Some symbolism," I murmured as two large gigas-like Shadows materialized next to the big Shadow.

"I am a Shadow… The true self…" Kanji's Shadow said as everyone else was drawing weapons and summoning up Personas, myself included, "I'm just being true to myself. And that's why… I'll get rid of anything in my way!"

"I got this!" I yelled out and immediately charged at the large Shadow. It couldn't be that hard to beat, we made it past that Gigas just by beating it senseless.

I was wrong. Kanji's shadow reacted quicker than I could run, and smacked me like a baseball with one of those Mars Symbols. You ever get hit by a giant Mars Symbol? No? It hurts!

I went flying backwards like a baseball hit, before slamming into the wall…. This was starting to turn into a trend with me.

"Masahiro-senpai!" I heard Yukiko call out as I slumped to the ground, but I couldn't hear her that well with that thumping noise in my head…

The last thing I heard before the thumping finally went away was what sounded like an exclamation of "Dia," whatever that meant. But whatever it was, it made my head, back, and general everything not hurt so bad so it was probably good.

"That thing is strong," I groaned as I stood back up, "And it's got help? That's unfair."

"Chie, Masahiro-senpai, can you two handle those other shadows?" Yu asked, not even looking at us, sword clenched in his hands, total serious mode.

"Yeah, we can do that," Chie said, sliding down into a kicking-ready stance.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with what happened before, would it?" I asked as I picked up my saber once again.

"Just trust me," Yu said, as he ran at Kanji's Shadow, not unlike what I had just done.

"Yu, what are you doing!?" I yelled at him as he continued to run at Kanji's Shadow. Yosuke, Yukiko, and Saki ran after him as well. Since only Chie and I were told to handle the other Shadows, the four of them were probably all going to deal with Kanji's Shadow.

But my thoughts on who was fighting what was broken up almost immediately by Chie yelling, "Masahiro-senpai, look out!"

I looked around and immediately noticed what Chie was worried about, one of those other Shadows was closing in on me fast, and winding up for another punch to send me flying.

"Oh no, not again!" I yelled out as I threw my saber up between me and the Shadow's fist.

But instead of pushing me back, or being sliced through, the Shadow and my Saber seemed equally matched. It was like in the movies when two guys get their swords stuck together and they push on each other for a little while, usually way longer than anyone in the fight of their life would, but in this case the other sword was the fist of a Shadow.

We remained there for what felt like minutes, locked in a battle of strength, though actually it was more like half a minute. But eventually I found a chance to push back on the Shadow, and it moved surprisingly easy.

After pushing it backwards, I did the only thing I could think to do, stab the Shadow! It…. was almost exactly like stabbing actual shadows, which is to say, no resistance at all. The only difference was pulling my saber back, I left a little trail of weird black fog-ish goop.

"Hah, that…. Actually wasn't so bad…." I said somewhat surprised and with a grin. This Shadow fighting thing was easy, actually. They might look like a wrestler, but they're like stabbing water balloons.

Not that I'd ever stabbed water balloons.

"Keep your head in the game!" I heard Yosuke yell at me, as the Shadow was once again coming at me.

Yosuke, for his part, was attempting to get behind Kanji's Shadow, while Yu, Yukiko, and Saki kept the Shadow's attention forward. But I didn't have enough time to figure out what their strategy was before the Gigas was coming at me again.

With the same attack it used before.

"Not going to fool me twice!" I taunted as I practically spun a 360 out of the way, hearing the Gigas go thumping past me. "Alright now go, Dionysus!" And with a flourish of my saber and a dramatic pointing from my Persona, lightning rained down on the Shadow, stopping it mid-charge.

But, the Shadow didn't seem too concerned by the shocking, in fact it seemed to like it…

"Ohhh~ Do it again~" the Shadow gushed with way too much thinly-veiled pleasure….

"W-what?" I stammered out, not really sure how to respond to this Shadow talking to me… in a suggestive way.

Actually, when in doubt, just stab things. So that's what I did, I ran over and stabbed the Shadow in the arm, once again feeling like I stabbed a water balloon.

"No need to be so cruel," the Shadow said, almost tauntingly, as suddenly it's other arm came swinging in at me.

I lost my grip on my saber once I was hit, but I didn't go flying into any walls this time. Just into the air, and then flat onto my back.

"Oh no, someone help Masahiro up!" I heard Teddie yell, as the Gigas stood over me, cracking it's neck, my saber still lodged in its arm.

And just when I figured the Gigas was gonna squish me or something, a green blur slammed into it so hard the Shadow toppled over like a sack of bricks. The green blur, as it turns out, was Chie, who didn't even stop to help me up before she continued to beat on the Gigas that had knocked me down.

"What's wrong with Chie-chan?" Teddie asked from where he was hiding along with Kanji, "It looks like she's gone bearzerk!"

Well, no duh she looks bearzerk-berserk, Chie was practically kicking the Gigas in the jaw by this point, while the Gigas she had been fighting was now focusing its attention on Yu and the others. As much as I'd rather play the punching bag role and draw that Gigas off them, I figured Chie was a bigger concern.

I didn't want to be a punching bag, too.

So I rolled over onto my stomach and slowly lifted myself up from the ground. I was hurting again by now, I probably needed a 'Dia' or whatever that was earlier, but I made my way over by Chie and pulled my saber out of the Gigas. "Are you okay, Chie?" I asked as she continued to mercilessly kick what was potentially a dead Shadow.

She didn't respond, continuing to kick wildly, one of them almost nailed me. "Hey! Chie! Watch it!" I yelled almost directly in her ear, yet she still didn't respond.

"Guys! Something's wrong with Chie!" I called to them, but it seemed that Yukiko was already on it, directing her Persona to use some sort of magic…. Soul…. Power…. Thing on Chie, who quickly stopped beating on the Gigas and looked around, "What happened?"

"Uh…. you don't remember?" I quickly asked, indicating the Shadow that proceeded to burst into black fog, "That Shadow knocked me to the ground and then you beat the tar out of it."

"I did that? The last thing I remember that Shadow was…. That Shadow!" Chie yelled out, but the fact she was talking probably meant she was legitimately angry, "I'm gonna beat the snot out of that thing!"

And with that, Chie took off back to the last remaining Gigas. And with my Gigas already defeated, I decided to follow after Chie and help her out.

Chie's Gigas didn't look that tough, and although she and it were exchanging punches and kicks, it looked at best evenly matched.

"Hey big guy, you've got company!" I called out as Dionysus rained lightning down upon this Shadow as well.

Although the Shadow didn't fall over, or die, or anything like that, it did notice me. But this time I was ready for the fist, waiting for the Gigas to walk over, watching it's fist start swinging forward, and then I put my saber up to catch the fist. I caught the attack without much effort, and the both of us stood there grappled for a moment, before the Shadow's other fist began to move.

I quickly pulled down on my saber, feeling the resistance as the Shadow's one fist twisted with my saber. There was a snapping noise, and then I felt the other fist slam into my saber. I'd locked the Shadow up completely now.

"Chie! Use some sort of spell!" I yelled to her as I tried to keep the Gigas grappled. It was weaker than mine was, so I actually had to hold back or I'd have shoved it to the ground. But shoving it to the ground wouldn't have helped, we needed to find something it wouldn't get back up from.

"Alright, let's go, Tomoe!" Chie called out as her Persona spun it's large spear around, before the Shadow I was grappled with suddenly became encased in a block of ice. Along with my hands.

"Ah! Chie! Watch where you put that stuff!" I yelled out as I tried to pull my arms out of the ice. "It's your fault for not stepping back!" She yelled back at me.

Thankfully, Chie's ice dissipated after a few seconds. I wasn't too much worse for the wear, the ice was cold and my hands felt a bit numb, but I was on my feet. Which was more than I could say for the Shadow, who collapsed to it's knees as soon as the ice was gone.

"I think that worked!" I yelled to Chie. "All right, Masahiro-senpai! It's pile on time!" Chie yelled back, as she immediately rushed the Shadow and kicked it flat onto the ground.

And that was when we piled on, with kicks and stabs, and more kicks and stabs, and I think some of the others joined in at one point. Eventually, we just kinda backed off. The Shadow wasn't getting up, and it wasn't even trying to fight us off anymore.

And sure enough, after we'd backed off the Shadow bust into fog just like the other one had.

Now all that was left, was the big guy. Kanji's Shadow.

"Alright, now it's our turn to enter the fight," I said with a grin as I rushed by Yu's side, Chie taking Yu's other side with her own laugh.

Yosuke had apparently taken up a permanent position behind Kanji's Shadow, while Saki and Yukiko were still behind Yu. They all looked pretty beat up, but nothing too horrible.

"My… My Pals…." Kanji's Shadow said sadly as he looked between where the two Gigas had fallen, "You're going to pay for that!" And then he grabbed the pair of Mars Symbols, and slammed them into the ground; lightning erupting from the impact sites.

And arcing into the five of us standing in front of him!

Weirdly, it didn't hurt that bad. But… considering Dionysus can make lightning rain from above, it's probably his influence that was making this hurt not so bad. Yu didn't seem too hurt either, but Izanagi also knew electric attacks.

Still, the lightning was immobilizing, and hurt, even if it wasn't a writhing kind of pain.

However, Yosuke still decided to do something about it. I heard him call out to his Persona, Jiraiya, before the two of them appeared in the air. Leaping onto the Shadow's back, and plunging daggers and shuriken into the Shadow. Their little attack did the trick, as Kanji's Shadow picked up the Mars Symbols, stopping the lightning, and turned to face them.

"Stay out of my way!" the Shadow yelled, "What's wrong with acting how I feel like!?"

"Nothing," Yu said as he de-summoned his Persona, "You can act however you want."

I was about to ask Yu if he'd gone insane when he did something insane. As if he were changing his Persona, a new card dropped in for him. But rather than shattering it in his hand, he swung his arm across it, and the card actually split into two!

The glow that normally surrounded someone summoning a Persona was much larger this time as Yu outstretched his arms, though the reason for that became apparent when Yu threw his arms together, and a gigantic Persona emerged. It was one I'd never seen before, tall and round, with what looked like a metal body, padlocked shut. White "skin," if you could call it that, golden hair, a jeweled crown, and the kind of face you could make on a cell phone.

Yu…. had just fused a new Persona. Right there, in front of us.

"King Frost!" He declared with an outstretched hand, as Kanji's Shadow quickly became encased in ice from head to toe.

"S-s-s-so…. C-c-cold…." Kanji's shadow barely muttered from within the ice. But unlike Chie's ice, this stuff didn't look ready to melt any time soon.

"Get him," Yu said with a grin, as we all piled on the frozen Shadow. Admittedly, beating the crap out of a block of ice didn't seem productive, but the ice didn't seem to impede our weapons at all. It was as though it was only encasing the victim.

But eventually the ice did start to melt, and we all backed off and spread out for safety. After what happened with those Mars symbols before, we weren't taking any chances now.

"You don't accept me! You'll never accept me!" the Shadow billowed, looking around the edges of the room until it noticed Teddie's ears.

"You're all annoyances," the Shadow then said, "But he's an eyesore!" And then the Mars Symbols were pounded into the ground again, sending lightning arcing directly at Kanji and Teddie!

"Kanji!" we all cried out, well almost all of us. Yu, instead of calling out to Kanji, ran in the path of the lightning and was taking the hit along with King Frost.

This time, he sounded hurt. Was King Frost not effective against Electricity like Izanagi?

"Grr, you're still annoying! Why don't you just eat this!" Kanji's Shadow yelled as the lightning continued to pump into Yu.

"Dia!" I heard the voice of Yukiko call out again, that was the same word from earlier. But Yu didn't look like he was feeling any better. In fact, we had to do something or Yu was gonna get fried!

It was Yosuke who moved first, once again leaping toward the Shadow's back and burying daggers into it. But the Shadow was unfazed, focused solely on destroying Yu now.

Chie moved next, attempting to encase the Shadow in ice, but to no avail. It was just too big and her ice was just too fragile.

"I got it! Let's take out a leg!" I finally exclaimed. If we took out a leg, the Shadow would have to go to the ground, and that would give Yu a chance to at least change Personas. So I charged in there, burying my saber in the Shadow's leg, but to little avail, "Hey, anyone else want to help!?"

That was when I saw a knife enter next to my saber, Saki's….

I grinned at Saki, "It's crazy, huh?" I said as Yukiko kept trying to keep Yu alive with more Dias.

"Your plan? It makes sense," Saki said quickly and sternly as she slowly pushed her knife along the Shadow's leg. I suppose we weren't really doing anything standing there having a chat, we had to take out this leg somehow.

"No, all of this Shadow stuff," I replied as I started to push on my saber as well, "It's weird, but I feel like this is my calling in life or something." For something that could be pierced like a water balloon, cutting through Shadows was hard work. But if we couldn't bring the Shadow down by stabbing it, we'd just have to cut the leg straight off!

Saki didn't reply, but I swear I saw her nod slightly as she continued pushing her knife the other way. And slowly, we began to cut through the Shadow until…

My saber came out with an almost audible pop, and I went face-first back into the floor with a groan. But Saki must have gotten free as well, because there was a pause, and then a loud crashing sound behind me.

From the ground I heard the voice of Teddie say "W-wait, Kanji!" as I got myself back upright. Yu was catching his breath, while Kanji slowly walked past. He still looked weak, and seemed to be limping, but Kanji was walking toward his Shadow.

"Come 'ere, you!" he shouted as he broke into a run, punching his Shadow straight into the wall behind it. Where the Shadow just laid for a while, staring at Kanji.

"Ohhh! Just accept me!" the Shadow eventually whined as it began to dissolve into the fog that created it….

We'd won, somehow.

"Kanji-kun," Yukiko eventually said as the Shadow was dissipating, "Are you alright?"

"I'm…. fine…" he managed to say between panting breaths, holding onto the arm he punched his Shadow with, "You guys... saw all that, then…"

"Wait, something's wrong," Yosuke, who had been watching the Shadow this whole time, interrupted with.

We all then turned to look back at the Shadow, if it was anything like our own, it would have just dissipated back into the Other Us, but Kanji's shadow seemed different somehow…

"I-it's still coming after us!" Teddie exclaimed, backing up toward the door, "Kanji is still rejecting it!"

I couldn't necessarily blame him after what we'd just seen. If Kanji's really… well… gay, then it's probably not the easiest thing to accept.

"Such a passionate approach…" the Other Kanji said, almost flirtatiously, "I think that you three... would make wonderful boyfriends."

Yeah, the Shadow was gay then, that cleared everything up.

"S-s-stop it! Y-you got it all wrong," Yosuke stuttered with a shallow laugh, "W-we're not into… guys."

"Enough," said the weary voice of Kanji, "What the hell are you blabbering about?"

"I don't care who!" the Other Kanji said with equal weariness, seemingly entirely tuned out to anyone besides Kanji again, "Won't someone, anyone, please just accept me?"

"Stop it!" Kanji warned, as we all sadly sank into a combat-ready stance. He was gonna reject his Shadow yet again, wasn't he?

"Accept me for who I am!" the Other Kanji exclaimed again, was it stuck on a loop now or something? Did it not have the strength to go berserk? All it did was begin to walk forward, arms out wide like it was expecting a hug of acceptance.

"I said stop it!" Kanji yelled again and punched the Other Him square in the jaw, knocking it once again to the floor, "I can't believe something like you is inside me."

"Kanji you…" Yosuke began to say before Kanji cut him off.

"Yeah, I've known all along that I had something like you. But it ain't a matter of guys or chicks, I'm just scared shitless of being rejected. I'm a total pansy who makes everyone try to hate him," Kanji admitted, staring down at his Other Self the entire time.

"You're not alone," Yu said, walking over by Kanji's side, "We all have something like this inside of us."

Kanji's face seemed to twist into a smile when Yu said that, "C'mon, get up. Anyone who looks like me, I know they ain't so weak that they can't take a punch."

Almost immediately, the Other Kanji began to sit up again, but Kanji didn't wait, "I already know you're me. You're me… and I'm you, dammit!"

And then, with just a nod, a miraculous thing happened. The Other Kanji was consumed in blue light, and disappeared, leaving behind a giant thing… a Persona.

It was like some sort of black skeleton robot, wielding a sword shaped like a lightning bolt. Fitting, I guess, since Kanji's Shadow threw lightning around like it was buckets of water. And the skeleton motif totally went with Kanji's tough guy…. Persona…

"Fitting name," I muttered to myself quietly, as Kanji's Persona transfigured into a tarot card and descended into his outstretched hand.

And with that, Kanji collapsed backwards onto the ground. "Shit…" he grumbled after he'd hit the ground. Apparently whatever strength he'd mustered to beat down his Shadow was expended.

"Kanji-kun!" I heard Chie call out as we all rushed to make sure he was okay.

"Let's get him home," Yu said as we all nodded. Carrying an ogre like him all the way back to the entrance was going to be a chore for all of us.

So naturally we guys had to do it.

* * *

 **May 29, 2011**

 **Afternoon**

We eventually got Kanji back to Junes, and propped him up against the TV displays.

"Kanji-kun, are you okay?" Yukiko asked, and now was a better time to ask that.

"It's… it's nothing…" Kanji murmured, as he struggled to try and stand futily before sitting back down, "I feel great, actually. It's like my mind's all cleared up."

"No need to act tough, everyone else was laid up in bed for a few days after they came back," Yu said with a grin, he'd seen right through Kanji's facade.

"I never said I was fine like that," Kanji replied as Yosuke lent him a hand up, "Hey, about what just happened?"

"We won't tell a soul," I said slightly worried that his next sentence would be something like 'You better not tell a soul or I'll kill ya.'

"What do you mean by that?" Kanji asked accusatory, "I want to know what that bullshit was."

"We'll explain everything later," Yukiko said, "For now you need to rest."

"I can take Kanji home," Saki finally spoke up, "I'm sure his mother is still worried about him."

"Oh yeah, that's right. I guess the Police will want to talk to you, too," Yosuke chimed in with, "Whatever you do, you can't tell them about what happened earlier."

"You think I'd tell anyone about that thing? I said he's inside me, not that I'd show the whole world him," Kanji shot back, "I've gone off for a few days before, I'll just tell them I was in the city."

I couldn't help but smile to myself at that one, the great mystery of Kanji Tatsumi the Delinquent. He was just a Home Ec kid who acted tough so he wouldn't have to be rejected.

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 _This end-blurb is gonna be a bit long and sometimes rambly, but can you believe it's now been 7 months since I posted Chapter 1? And like 9 months since I first opened the word document for Chapter 1?_

 _While I was working on this chapter, I actually wrote out some stats for Masahiro. No hard numbers, just general "good in this, bad in that."_

 _He came out very much a "Magikarp Power" kind of character. I didn't want to use Dionysus' resistance to Physical attacks at such a low level, so I (spoiler?) pushed it onto his tier-2 Persona. But as a result, Masahiro is an okay attacker, poor defender, and not much support character without his Tier 2 Persona. If this story were an actual P4 game, Masahiro would be the sort of character they'd say "he's great, provided you're willing to carry him until the late game."_

 _Yes, that's the kind of depth that I go into behind the scenes. That, and listening to music and thinking about how that music goes with the story. Hey, it works. It helped me finally figure out the framing for this story, for instance. And reading a…. Different fanfic helped me figure out a little more about the IT's team dynamic._

 _ANYWAY! I really liked this chapter, the idea of splitting the party up like that came to me very fast when figuring out the battle flow, and splitting the party into chunks I think helped stop it from turning into something too turn-based for the sake of getting everyone involved._

 _Played around with some mechanics here, too. Yu has his ability to fuse in battle, like the Anime. But he fused a different Persona. Also played with ice somewhat, but more specifically I played with the idea of "down" as being solely "it flopped to the ground." I suppose you could call it "incapacitated" now._

 _And now's the part where I talk about what's coming up. And to do so I'd like to thank everyone who gave me critical feedback on last chapter. It sucked, and I knew it sucked when I hit submit, but I was too concerned with keeping social links that won't pay off in this story moving along a full 10 ranks._

 _I'm going away for basically two weeks now, so it might very well be another 30 days before this story updates, but know that I'm taking a lot of that feedback into heart. I'm adjusting a lot of the social links I had planned out to give them more story weight, even if it means merging some or having some max out at rank 5 or so. Also I'm still working on an easily-searchable info document since my current "planning doc" is just a bunch of random thought floating around._

 _Anyway, that's it for Kanji's dungeon, and that's it for the "tutorial" arc of the game. I'll be heading off for Pokethon (dot net) on Wednesday and the marathon starts on Thursday. And after that, I'll get back to writing the chapter where Kanji joins the Investigation Team!_

 _Thanks for sticking with me the last 7 months, through thick, thin, and long._


	21. The Jock, The Brute, and the Detective

_Original Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines depicted in this story are purely my own. The world of Persona, and all related Characters, Descriptions, and Storylines are the property of Atlus. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

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 **June 6, 2011**

 **After School**

In fairness, maybe I'd underestimated my Father's police intuition. Or maybe didn't realize a group of High School students showing up and asking a bunch of questions about Kanji was in fact suspicious.

Either way, I got a nice chewing out a few days after we'd rescued Kanji. Seems when the Police were investigating what happened, Kanij's Mother and that one Detective Kid apparently talked about us snooping around. So I got to hear about how if I'm thinking of getting involved in this kidnapping case I should think again, and "leave it to the professionals."

Unfortunately, we are the professionals in this case. The Police apparently still aren't convinced the kidnappings are related to each other, let alone related to that murder.

I heard Yu got it pretty bad from his Uncle, too. But honestly, Dojima-san was probably playing softball. My Father doesn't interrogate, he just outright says "If I find out you have some connection to these kidnappings, I'll haul you back to the Station myself for questioning."

Note to self, be a little more subtle when investigating this case in the future.

But hey, Kanji had apparently recovered and for what might have been the first time this entire year, he was coming to school. To meet with us.

On my way up to the roof after school, I ran into a classmate of mine. He was Hibiko Morioka; basketball player, good looker, horrible at academics. Except for the fact he actually cared about doing good in class, people would probably think he's a stereotypical jock.

Actually, they probably do anyway.

"Yo, Masahiro!" he called out to me as I was heading for the stairs, running over by me and following me toward the stairs, "Thanks for helping me out back in class."

"No problem, really," I replied, just trying to shake him off me. We'd been having Philosophy and Mr. Ugaki, our Philosophy teacher, decided to ask a question about a topic I'm familiar with"

"Mr. Morioka, this is Carl Jung's Philosophical 'mask,' to shield your true nature from the world?"

Mr. Ugaki loved to quiz us on things we were about to learn. And since he was a fairly large Game Show nut, he loved to phrase questions like a game show. In this case, he was on a kick for Jeopardy, yes from America, and so it was our job to figure out the question to his answer.

The whole concept was silly, but the whole mask thing and shielding thing, that was my area of expertise. Not to mention I'd heard about that during my time at Gekkoukan. So I gave Morioka the answer, it was Persona.

Everyone seemed surprised I knew that. Not that I was surprised, they didn't have Mr. Edogawa filling in for their teachers. And they sure didn't know that Personas actually exist… in a way. I doubt Jung knew about Shadows and TV Worlds and Magic Cards….

"Seriously, how'd you know about that Persona stuff?" he asked me for probably the third time once I'd stopped by the stairs.

I shrugged, trying again to shove him off, "I've just been doing some studying outside of class."

"Studying? You? Half the time you're just running off to hang with Saki, or that Junes guy."

"Well actually, I was going to go…. Study now," I finally said, trying to speed the conversation along before everyone decided to start without me. I'd seen Saki head up the stairs a few minutes ago by this point, and the hallways were starting to empty.

"Oh sweet, there's no practice today so maybe I'll join you!" Morioka exclaimed, causing me to shut my eyelids and roll my eyes.

"It's… actually a study group!" I quickly came up with, "And there's a bunch of us already, probably not room for one more."

"Oh," Morioka finally said, sounding like he got the hint, "Well if you guys do want more just hit me up. Maybe we can start our own group." And with that, he grinned large, "Yeah! When are you free next, Masahiro?"

"Me?" I asked, putting two and two together and realizing that Morioka was talking about studying together, "I think I'm good for Friday." I was still off from work on Fridays since if someone were to go missing, that's one of the days we're exploring the TV world, so for now it works….. Unless someone goes missing yet this week.

"Friday it is, then. I'll find you after class, okay? "Morioka said with a nod, which I returned before he headed down the stairs and I headed up.

Everybody had already gathered by the time I got free from Morioka and got up to the roof. Even Kanji, a fact I took no pride in.

"About time," Yu said with a sly grin after I got over to the vent everyone was perched on.

"I ran into a classmate," I said with a glance over at Kanji, wondering whether to even mention everything with Morioka.

"Oh yeah, Morioka-kun, right?" Saki piped up with, "I didn't even know the answer to that was Persona. How did you know that?"

"Oh, well it's just something a substitute at Gekkoukan told me," I said with a wave of my hand, "But… maybe we should move to someplace a little more…. Inconspicuous? I told Morioka that this is a study group and he seemed a little… interested in joining."

My reward was that look of 'did you seriously?' from just about everyone.

"I guess Junes is an option," Yosuke said with a shrug, "We'd probably just go there anyway after talking to Kanji."

"Wait, so why the hell'd you make me come to school if we were just gonna pack up and go to Junes!?" Kanji yelled out, glaring around at us.

"Well it's not our fault Masahiro-senpai can't lie," Chie shot back. The two of them were already starting off on the right foot.

"Hmph, whatever. Let's just go then," Kanji grumbled as he started off toward the stairs, "You coming!?"

We all followed after him without a complaint.

* * *

 **June 6, 2011**

 **Later**

Junes was exactly what we needed considering I had just called our team a "study group," crowded enough to blend in, yet still quiet enough to hear each other without yelling out 'hey, we're hunting a serial killer!'

"Um… thanks a bunch," Kanji said after we'd gotten ourselves situated at a bigger table, "You know, for getting me outta that."

We all looked at each other, before Yukiko took the lead, "There are some things we'd like you to tell us."

"I don't remember much, if that's what you're asking," Kanji explained almost immediately,

"That's fine," Chie spoke up with, "First question, who was that boy you were with?"

"W-W-What?" Kanji stammered out, looking around the group as we all stared intently at him.

"We want to know what relation he has to the case," Yu added in, finally getting Kanji to speak.

"I don't really know much about him. I'd only seen him twice."

"Yeah, but you walked home from school with him. What did you guys talk about?" Chie asked as her second question. I was about to mention that that boy already told me what they talked about when Kanji spoke up again.

"He just asked me stuff… Like if anything different happened recently. I dunno where my head was at, but when I came to my senses I blurted out that I wanted to see him again."

"To a guy." Chie said flatly, we were all thinking it.

"Well either way," I quickly said before Kanji could chew Chie out for what she said, "That seems to fall in line with what he told me after you went missing. He said you were acting strangely."

"I don't really get it myself," Kanji explained for us, "Girls are so loud and obnoxious, so, y'know… I really don't like dealing with 'em. Guys are a lot more laid back. So Uh…. I started thinking… What if I'm the type who never gets interested in girls? And I couldn't accept that, so I just kept spinning around and around in my head."

"And that's where the Bathhouse came from," I said as I scanned the crowd for anyone listening in on us. Sure, Kanji'd accepted his other self, but I doubt he would like any of this to be overheard.

"Well I can understand the part about being more comfortable around dudes," Yosuke said with… not much of a joking air. Well actually, that makes sense considering Chie's tendency to try to emasculate Yosuke.

"Well how have you been doing since you got out of the TV?" Yu piped up to say, before any of us tread too hard on Kanji's question of…. Attractiveness.

"I'm fine now," Kanji said with a smile, "I mean it was all in my head when y'get down to it. I was the one shutting all that out."

I smiled and nodded, it was nice to hear Kanji figured that out on his own. Though it was also nice to know that he had a problem that was entirely in his head, too.

"So… Our family's run a textile shop for generations…" Kanji sputtered through, trying to introduce himself I guess, until he caught himself, "But I guess you already know that." Then he defaulted to what most teenagers would start a conversation with, "My parents are kinda weird. They say stuff like 'Dyes are one with the universe,' 'Cloth is alive.'"

Kanji's family is weird, there's something I didn't expect to learn today. His mother seemed so nice when we were in at the Textile shop.

"That's the kind of house I grew up in. So I've been interested in sewing and stuff since I was a kid. But the second I say stuff like that, people look at me funny. Girls make fun of me, the people in the neighborhood treat me like I'm some zoo animal, so I was sick of everything. By the time I came to my senses… I was running wild."

"Shit," Kanji said with a hollow laugh, "What's with me today? I'm going on and on about myself. Forget all that! Man, I must seem really lame right now."

"Everyone's like that," Yu replied with, "You're actually pretty cool."

"I doubt it," Kanji said, looking around in a flustered manner, "I've never talked about any of that stuff before. Guess I never had anyone to tell it to. I guess I wasn't really afraid of girls. I was afraid of people in general. But that's all behind me."

"Yeah, you got all of us now," I said with a smile, "If you ever need someone, for anything, you just talk to Yu."

"I'm surprised. You're a good kid!" Chie exclaimed, as we all, Kanji included, glared at her.

"Don't call me a good kid," Kanji said curtly. And that seemed to loosen us all up, I mean Kanji did still have an image to maintain.

"No need to get embarrassed. You're a big guy, you can take it." Yosuke shot back with a big grin, the kind that before all this probably would have gotten the shit beaten out of him.

"But Kanji," this time it was Saki speaking up, "We do want to ask you one more thing. Do you remember anything that happened after you and that boy separated?"

"Oh yeah, after he chased you guys all over town," I added in, just to bring up their little misadventure again.

"Huh?" Kanji asked with a confused look, "I… just went home… I was just gonna sleep it off in my room but… I think someone came?"

And immediately Yosuke, Chie, and I were all saying, "To your house?" It was one of those poor phrasing moments, but also…

That may have been our first real clue in the case.

"Uh, well… it was just a feeling I had. I dunno if anyone actually came to my house," Kanji replied with a slow shrug.

"Do you remember anything else? It's important," Yukiko chimed in to ask, hoping that maybe something else Kanji said could confirm or deny a visitor.

"Only other thing I can remember is some weird dark entrance thing. And when I woke up I was laid out on the floor of that sauna place."

"A dark entrance…." Yukiko muttered to herself.

"Ringing any bells?" Yu asked, and Yukiko just looked at him and shook her head, "No, but could it have been a TV?"

"Huh?" Kanji asked with his most confused expression yet, I suppose he hadn't quite come to grips with how TVs are involved in all of this, "Well now that you mention it, maybe so… Why do you ask?"

"No reason, I was just asking," Yukiko replied with a glance over at the TV behind one of the food stands. I suppose we do have to tell Kanji about how we're saving people at some point, right?

"So what about the Police?" Yosuke asked, changing the subject off telling Kanji about the TV World, "Did they ask you anything?"

"Well my mom had called the cops to look for me, so they questioned me for a while. I told them exactly what I told you guys… and they looked at me like I was crazy," and then he paused for a moment, "So are you guys playing detective or something?"

"Something like that," Chie said as she looked at Yosuke, who shrugged and looked at me, and I looked at Saki, and… well you get the idea.

"Well is there anything I can do to help?" Kanji said with a fist pump in the air, once again before we could explain the TV World, "If there's some bastard who put me through this, I ain't gonna rest until I make 'em pay!"

We all grinned at that, but it was Yosuke who spoke up, "Seriously? Awesome! You'd make a great addition to our team! So what do you say, Yu?"

"Of course he can," Yu said with a nod.

"Thank you, sir!" Kanji declared with a fistpump-esque salute, "I'll put my life on the line for you guys! I'll do my best!"

"That might be a bit too far," I murmured to myself.

"So someone's killing people with a TV, right? What, is he just beating them to death?" Kanji finally asked, and we finally would have a chance to explain all this to him.

"No, they weren't being beaten with a TV!" Yosuke yelled at Kanji, "Were you even paying attention when you were in there!?"

"What was that about beating someone?" a…. Slow and sly sort of voice said behind Yu. It was the kind of voice I knew…. Somehow.

"Adachi-san!" Yu exclaimed in his usual calm voice, turning around to look at the lazy detective behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Kanji asked, with a glare and a hint of venom.

"I could hear you kids while I was hi-er, working," Adachi stumbled through, it wasn't too difficult to figure out that he was doing anything but working while he was here. They don't call him the worst Detective for nothing.

"Though that reminds me, Kanji, Dojima-san said he wanted to meet with you again about what happened," Adachi said, glancing over at the newest member of our team.

"Well you can tell him to take a hike," Kanji grumbled, "I already told you two everything I know."

"Well that's the thing," Adachi replied as he looked toward the food stalls, "Dojima-san's getting frustrated by the lack of progress on the case. None of the victims…"

I then noticed him glance around the table. We were all prior victims, besides Yu, Yosuke, and Chie, so it made sense that he was taking stock of the fact we were all here.

"...could remember how it was they were kidnapped. Shirogane can verify everything you said happened that afternoon, but… you really can't remember anything about when you were kidnapped or how? None of you?"

Adachi looked at Saki and I, as we all shook our heads with a stoic look. "All we have is conjecture, nothing you and Dojima haven't already thought of," Saki replied, as Adachi leaned back with a sigh.

"And here I was hoping I could bring Dojima-san some good news about the case. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to tell him you guys didn't know anything."

"Sorry about that. But it's all we have right now," Yu said before Adachi turned around to leave.

"Well be careful out there, kids," he said as he waved back at us, "It's best not to think too hard about this, we detectives will catch the culprit."

And with that, he walked away.

"The hell's his problem?" Kanji asked after Adachi was firmly out of earshot.

"The way he was looking at all of us, do you think he knows?" Saki added in, she clearly noticed how Adachi was looking at us during that whole thing.

"He's my Uncle's partner, he probably was just trying to see if we'd admit to being involved," Yu replied as he continued to watch the elevator that Adachi left in. He seemed… maybe a little unconvinced?

"Well, what's the plan, then?" Kanji said with an upbeat attitude, "The sooner we get this freak behind bars the sooner that creep can stop bothering us!"

"We're going to have to keep watching the Midnight Channel. That's how we find out who's going to be kidnapped next," Yosuke explained to Kanji for us, "When someone shows up on there, then we'll get another chance to catch the killer."

"So we just watch this TV Program, and wait for someone to show up? That's your only clue?" Kanji asked, "Why don't you try asking that kid at school? Apparently he's got all kinds of clues about this case."

"You mean that detective kid?" I asked, "I thought you said you didn't talk about anything with him."

"I didn't," Kanji suddenly replied, "But he was snooping around school today, asking about Senpai and My disappearances."

"So talk to him if we can, otherwise just keep watching the Midnight Channel…" Yu reiterated in his same tone of voice, "I guess that's all we can do."

"Don't worry, bro," Yosuke said with a smile, "You have something the killer doesn't. And that's all of us."

It was cheesy, yes, but it was true as it would turn out.

.

* * *

.

 _So…. um…. Happy anniversary! It was October 20th of last year when I first started writing the story of Masahiro. We've come…. Not quite as far as I would have liked since then, but it's been a crazy 370 (as of me finishing revisions on this chapter) days._

 _And a crazy last three months. Which is how long this story's been iced. In the meantime I went to Pokethon (thanks to anyone who may have tuned in, we actually have a mini marathon coming up November 18th), came back, had WoW 7.0 drop, had No Man's Sky (which I preordered…) drop, built a new desk, had WoW: Legion drop, bought a PS4, firmly committed to putting this project on hiatus in favor of a original project, changed my mind, finally finished playing P4G, starting playing P3P, got hooked on Hatoful Boyfriend, watched Zeldathon Classic, and had Civ 6 drop all in the span of these 3 months._

 _And, as per usual, I'd like to thank the people coming along with likes/favorites/thumbs up on this story for keeping me invested. Honestly sometimes I only clawed my way back here because I was like "all these new fans, I can't let them down."_

 _But yeah, if this chapter comes off feeling a bit disjointed… well the part with Morioka was written early August, the rooftop bit in early September, and the Junes bit in mid October. And on that note, a bit on Morioka. Originally I didn't want to do any important OCs besides Masahiro (and I guess by way of she lives more than 3 days, Saki), but eventually I decided to flesh out Class 3-2 a bit more. So I have an easier time down the road with things like the Culture Festival. He'll be around especially early in the story when it's all too easy for me to mechanically write the same social link characters in the same order every time I'm like "I should do some social link stuff."_

 _But it's mostly clear sailing from here until Persona 5 releases in February and I disappear to play that before getting wholly hooked on writing this as a result. Only real bump would be Zeldathon Cures after Christmas. And next month is even NaNoWriMo (which I know the Na, Wri, and Mo but not the No) so what better time to try and get back into the swing of things and write?_


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